AI says NO: Tell Keir Starmer that people, not machines should oversee life-changing decisions

Clause 80 of the Government’s Data (Use and Access) Bill could strip away your right to decide whether people or machines make decisions that impact our lives.

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 not to be simply subjected to life-changing decisions made solely by machines. You will be forced to prove a mistake has been made when machines get it wrong. We need to ensure that we decide whether people — not just machines — make life-changing decisions about us. 

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 be able to decide if we want humans or machines to determine life-changing decisions.