Several states of the United States of America have outlawed parts of facial recognition technology already (Jee, 2019). Jee (2019) stated that it is just the beginning of the ban and that there might be a federal ban on some facial recognition practices. As AI is developing in a fast way, we need to ask ourselves: how far are regulations in keeping up with the AI development?
One example is that the current legal framework has no regulations under which robots can be held liable for damage on others (Krzisnik, 2019). The EU parliament understands that robots can be very complex and that the ordinary rules of liability are insufficient on this matter. Another example of a legal challenge is the topic of so called (electronic) personhood (Krzisnik, 2019). Personhood can be defined as being an individual and having certain rights and obligations. Every natural or legal person has these rights and obligations. However, robots again aren’t being held liable for any damage, as the government tries to find a person behind the robot that could have foreseen the damage (Krzisnik, 2019). Now, the EU parliament believes that some of the more complex robots that make autonomous decisions should have these rights and liabilities as well.
Burke and Trazo (2019) define the issue of data collection and safeguarding privacy as one of the most important legal challenges that AI has brought us. European Union regulators have been very active in their aims to provide a legal framework that deals with this challenge by creating the GDPR laws (Burke & Trazo, 2019). The United States are lagging behind in this aspect. However, as companies know that these regulations are inevitable, corporations as Apple and Accenture are expressing their support to the US lawmakers (Burke & Trazo, 2019).
I believe that even though processing new laws is a timely process, governments should work together with the technology companies to create new legal frameworks that overcome these challenges. They should be proactive instead of reactive, as AI is a rapidly changing system. However, it can be argued whether this is feasible in the current legal system. What do you think?
Burke, T.J. & Trazo, S. (2019) Emerging legal issues in an AI driven world. Lexology. [Online] Available at: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=4284727f-3bec-43e5-b230-fad2742dd4fb.
Jee, C. (2019) A facial recognition ban is coming to the US, says an AI policy advisor. MIT Technology Review. [Online] Available at: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614362/a-facial-recognition-ban-is-coming-to-the-us-says-ai-policy-advisor/.
Krizisnik, M. (2019) The legal challenges of Artificial Intelligence. Iuricorn – TOP technology lawyers. [Online] Available at: https://www.iuricorn.com/the-legal-challenges-of-artificial-intelligence/.
Thank you for writing this interesting article. I agree with you that the government needs to prepare for the AI revolution. I only have one question about the role of private companies.
Why do you think it is in the people’s best interest to work together with technology companies? How would Apple want to influence legislation? Do they want to protect consumer interests with (expensive) security measures or maximize their profit? And how do you decide which companies are allowed to influence legislation and which are not?