As with most technological advances employed by our government to
control us, the decision to use artificial intelligence to determine
whether or not we should be incarcerated has been kept from us. This
article points out how important judgements are being delegated to
Artificial Intelligence. As the author points out, based on decades of
racist data.
In an attempt to the improve processes involved in making such determinations
the government has made an epic error. Perhaps intentionally so. They
designed an automated system that analyzes data to determine
probabilities. However, the foundation of the process is based on biased
data. The failure to fix the data is likely based on the cost of fixing
it. The choice to move forward with an AI judge under these
circumstances simply perpetuates racist policies concerning
incarceration.
There are
other issues to be examined. The most important is the decision to
automate the justice system. Another pressing concern is the decision
not to inform the people of this country that our lives will be placed
in the hands of a computer. If this issue doesn't rise to the level of
public information, what else aren't they telling us?
