We’re back! So, the newsletter is finally a newsletter again, rather than an amorphous online presence. Apologies though, as I think because of the issues with the mail out you probably got flooded with a backlog of newsletters last week. Sorry for that. Hopefully everything is sorted now.
Most importantly. Happy Halloween to all who celebrate. To which I will add my yearly reminder that this is a historical Irish festival. If you doubt me – shame on you – but check out these freaky OG jack’o’lanterns.
Kicking off with facial recognition (did I mention I’m working on a book on this?) there are three big stories in the UK this week. The first is the huge rollout of facial recognition across retail outlets to combat shoplifting. They called it Operation Pegasus. Honestly. The second is the expansion of live facial recognition, this time by Essex Police. The third is this report on future regulation of biometric technology in the UK, which warns of a worrying vacuum if government plans go ahead. As facial recognition use is being so dramatically expanded (Police minister wants use of tech ‘doubled‘) any moves towards reduced oversight is obviously really troubling. I am also really concerned about the focus on data protection as the solution. Data protection is obviously very important, but the impact of advanced surveillance and biometric technologies go way beyond data protection and privacy. The chilling effects of surveillance bring into play freedom of expression, of assembly, etc. and can have a significant impact on the functioning of democracy. We really need a holistic and forward-looking approach to oversight. And we really need to make sure that it draws on all relevant disciplines: a law only lens is totally inappropriate here.
In confirmation of something I know we’ve all long suspected, apparently pigeons problem solve in a manner similar to AI.
Thanks as always to Sarah Zarmsky. This week, obviously, the tune has to be this on repeat in the background, followed by this classic from the Crypt Kickers.
Be well.
The Guardian, Major UK retailers urged to quit ‘authoritarian’ police facial recognition strategy
The Telegraph, Sunak to launch AI chatbot for Britons to pay taxes and access pensions
HackerNoon, The Ethical Dilemma: AI’s Role in Decision-Making and Human Rights
MIT Technology Review, This new data poisoning tool lets artists fight back against generative AI
HackerNoon, Navigating the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
Datafloq, Edge AI and How Could It Result in Privacy-Centric AI
DeepMind, Evaluating social and ethical risks from generative AI
AP News, Chatbots might disrupt math and computer science classes. Some teachers see upsides
AI News, Nightshade ‘poisons’ AI models to fight copyright theft
MIT Technology Review, A clever shield against photo fakery
The Guardian, Australian federal police tested controversial facial recognition search engine, FOI documents reveal
MIT Technology Review, How to make government technology better
UNESCO, UNESCO talks about its Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Education
Technology’s Legal Edge, AI Safety: The Final Frontier | Technology’s Legal Edge
Financial Times, AI policymaking must include business leaders
The Guardian, AI doomsday warnings a distraction from the danger it already poses, warns expert
The Guardian, AI promises incredible benefits, but also terrible risks. It’s not luddism to rein it in
The Washington Post, Tech execs fear future with AI: ‘I don’t know where optimism would spring from’
The New York Times, A.I. Muddies Israel-Hamas War in Unexpected Way
Financial Times, Good robots must not be made to learn from bad human habits
WIRED, Artists Allege Meta’s AI Data Deletion Request Process Is a ‘Fake PR Stunt’
The Guardian, Pigeons problem-solve similarly to artificial intelligence, research shows
The Washington Post, AI researchers uncover ethical, legal risks to using popular data sets
WIRED, These Nightmare AI Scenarios Have the UK Government Spooked
The Guardian, My Blonde GF: a disturbing story of deepfake pornography
The Guardian, AI-created child sexual abuse images ‘threaten to overwhelm internet’
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, UK: Questions of privacy violations resurface as Hikvision camera use restrictions narrow
The Guardian, UK risks scandal over ‘bias’ in AI tools in use across public sector
BBC News, Essex Police make three arrests during facial recognition trial
The Guardian, UK police urged to double use of facial recognition software
EDRi, Unchecked AI will lead us to a police state
Algorithm Watch, Algorithmic blood donations in Ukraine
Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, EU: Civil society organisations urge European Parliament to stand strong on AI Act fundamental rights protections
The National Interest, Artificial Intelligence Is Shaping the Story of the Israel-Gaza War
Gov.uk, Report finds ‘worrying vacuum’ in surveillance camera plans
Blog Posts
Berkeley Technology Law Journal, Artificial Intelligence and the Right to Privacy
Just Security, Process Rights and the Automation of Public Services through AI: The Case of the Liberal State
The Conversation, Deepfakes in warfare: new concerns emerge from their use around the Russian invasion of Ukraine
ICRC Humanitarian Law & Policy, Algorithms of war: The use of artificial intelligence in decision making in armed conflict
Academic Literature
*Disclaimer: The following articles, chapters, and books have not been evaluated for their methodology and do not necessarily reflect the views of the AI & Human Right Blog
Justin B. Bullock et al., The Oxford Handbook of AI Governance
Marco Almada, Governing the Black Box of Artificial Intelligence
Denise Garcia, Algorithms and Decision-Making in Military Artificial Intelligence
Media
Just Security, The Just Security Podcast: The Dangers of Using AI to Ban Books The Washington Post (video), A New Artificial Hand