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To: The Rt Hon Peter Kyle MP Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
AI says NO: Tell Keir Starmer that people, not machines should oversee life-changing decisions
The Government’s Data (Use and Access) Bill needs to be amended to protect our right to request a human review of automated decisions that impact your life.
Why is this important?
Clause 80 of the Government’s Data (Use and Access) Bill could strip away your right to request a human review of automated decisions that impact your life.
Big Tech and Whitehall are eager to cut costs by using AI algorithms to make crucial decisions about you. Soon, computers—not people—could determine the outcome of your benefit claims, job applications, or mortgage approvals.
Right now, UK GDPR protects your right to have a person review these automated decisions if you think a mistake has been made. The Government wants to remove this vital right. We need to ensure that people — not just machines — have the final say in life-changing decisions being made by AI.
Computers do make mistakes. In 2019, an algorithm misgraded the A-level results of thousands of students – as a result 40% came out lower than expected. Uber was sued after the company used an algorithm to ‘robo-fire’ many of its drivers, and problems with the Post Office Horizon system resulted in hundreds of people being wrongly prosecuted.
With the increased use of AI by companies and government departments, we can expect automated decision-making to increase. We need to ensure that there are proper safeguards in place to protect us from mistakes. We need to be able to call on a human to review a decision where needed.
