Legal contestation of artificial intelligence-related decision-making in the United Kingdom: Reflections for policy

Archibald Drake; Perry Keller; Irene Pietropaoli; Anuj Puri; Spyros Maniatis; Joe Tomlinson; Jack Maxwell; Pete Fussey; Claudia Pagliari; Hannah Smethurst; Lilian Edwards; William Blair

doi:10.1080/13600869.2021.1999075

Legal contestation of artificial intelligence-related decision-making in the United Kingdom: Reflections for policy

Archibald Drake^*, Perry Keller, Irene Pietropaoli, Anuj Puri, Spyros Maniatis, Joe Tomlinson, Jack Maxwell, Pete Fussey, Claudia Pagliari, Hannah Smethurst, Lilian Edwards, William Blair

^*Corresponding author for this work

Laws

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper considers legal contestation in the UK as a source of useful reflections for AI policy. The government has published a ‘National AI Strategy’, but it is unclear how effective this will be given doubts about levels of public trust. One key concern is the UK’s apparent ‘side-lining’ of the law. A series of events were convened to investigate critical legal perspectives on the issues, culminating in an expert workshop addressing five sectors. Participants discussed AI in the context of wider trends towards automated decision-making (ADM). A recent proliferation in legal actions is expected to continue. The discussions illuminated the various ways in which individual examples connect systematically to developments in governance and broader ‘AI-related decision-making’, particularly due to chronic problems with transparency and awareness. This provides a fresh and current insight into the perspectives of key groups advancing criticisms relevant to policy in this area. Policymakers’ neglect of the law and legal processes is contributing to quality issues with recent practical ADM implementation in the UK. Strong signals are now required to switch back from the vicious cycle of increasing mistrust to an approach capable of generating public trust. Suggestions are summarised for consideration by policymakers.

Original language	English
Journal	International Review of Law, Computers & Technology
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/13600869.2021.1999075
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 25 Oct 2021

Keywords

Artificial intelligence
Decision-making
Public policy

Access to Document

10.1080/13600869.2021.1999075Licence: CC BY

Cite this

Drake, A., Keller, P., Pietropaoli, I., Puri, A., Maniatis, S., Tomlinson, J., Maxwell, J., Fussey, P., Pagliari, C., Smethurst, H., Edwards, L., & Blair, W. (Accepted/In press). Legal contestation of artificial intelligence-related decision-making in the United Kingdom: Reflections for policy. International Review of Law, Computers & Technology. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600869.2021.1999075

@article{1974e4c4dbf84739bd704f611d178fe1,

title = "Legal contestation of artificial intelligence-related decision-making in the United Kingdom: Reflections for policy",

abstract = "This paper considers legal contestation in the UK as a source of useful reflections for AI policy. The government has published a {\textquoteleft}National AI Strategy{\textquoteright}, but it is unclear how effective this will be given doubts about levels of public trust. One key concern is the UK{\textquoteright}s apparent {\textquoteleft}side-lining{\textquoteright} of the law. A series of events were convened to investigate critical legal perspectives on the issues, culminating in an expert workshop addressing five sectors. Participants discussed AI in the context of wider trends towards automated decision-making (ADM). A recent proliferation in legal actions is expected to continue. The discussions illuminated the various ways in which individual examples connect systematically to developments in governance and broader {\textquoteleft}AI-related decision-making{\textquoteright}, particularly due to chronic problems with transparency and awareness. This provides a fresh and current insight into the perspectives of key groups advancing criticisms relevant to policy in this area. Policymakers{\textquoteright} neglect of the law and legal processes is contributing to quality issues with recent practical ADM implementation in the UK. Strong signals are now required to switch back from the vicious cycle of increasing mistrust to an approach capable of generating public trust. Suggestions are summarised for consideration by policymakers.",

keywords = "Artificial intelligence, Decision-making, Public policy",

author = "Archibald Drake and Perry Keller and Irene Pietropaoli and Anuj Puri and Spyros Maniatis and Joe Tomlinson and Jack Maxwell and Pete Fussey and Claudia Pagliari and Hannah Smethurst and Lilian Edwards and William Blair",

year = "2021",

month = oct,

day = "25",

doi = "10.1080/13600869.2021.1999075",

language = "English",

journal = "International Review of Law, Computers & Technology",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Legal contestation of artificial intelligence-related decision-making in the United Kingdom: Reflections for policy

AU - Drake, Archibald

AU - Keller, Perry

AU - Pietropaoli, Irene

AU - Puri, Anuj

AU - Maniatis, Spyros

AU - Tomlinson, Joe

AU - Maxwell, Jack

AU - Fussey, Pete

AU - Pagliari, Claudia

AU - Smethurst, Hannah

AU - Edwards, Lilian

AU - Blair, William

PY - 2021/10/25

Y1 - 2021/10/25

N2 - This paper considers legal contestation in the UK as a source of useful reflections for AI policy. The government has published a ‘National AI Strategy’, but it is unclear how effective this will be given doubts about levels of public trust. One key concern is the UK’s apparent ‘side-lining’ of the law. A series of events were convened to investigate critical legal perspectives on the issues, culminating in an expert workshop addressing five sectors. Participants discussed AI in the context of wider trends towards automated decision-making (ADM). A recent proliferation in legal actions is expected to continue. The discussions illuminated the various ways in which individual examples connect systematically to developments in governance and broader ‘AI-related decision-making’, particularly due to chronic problems with transparency and awareness. This provides a fresh and current insight into the perspectives of key groups advancing criticisms relevant to policy in this area. Policymakers’ neglect of the law and legal processes is contributing to quality issues with recent practical ADM implementation in the UK. Strong signals are now required to switch back from the vicious cycle of increasing mistrust to an approach capable of generating public trust. Suggestions are summarised for consideration by policymakers.

AB - This paper considers legal contestation in the UK as a source of useful reflections for AI policy. The government has published a ‘National AI Strategy’, but it is unclear how effective this will be given doubts about levels of public trust. One key concern is the UK’s apparent ‘side-lining’ of the law. A series of events were convened to investigate critical legal perspectives on the issues, culminating in an expert workshop addressing five sectors. Participants discussed AI in the context of wider trends towards automated decision-making (ADM). A recent proliferation in legal actions is expected to continue. The discussions illuminated the various ways in which individual examples connect systematically to developments in governance and broader ‘AI-related decision-making’, particularly due to chronic problems with transparency and awareness. This provides a fresh and current insight into the perspectives of key groups advancing criticisms relevant to policy in this area. Policymakers’ neglect of the law and legal processes is contributing to quality issues with recent practical ADM implementation in the UK. Strong signals are now required to switch back from the vicious cycle of increasing mistrust to an approach capable of generating public trust. Suggestions are summarised for consideration by policymakers.

KW - Artificial intelligence

KW - Decision-making

KW - Public policy

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119856916&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/13600869.2021.1999075

DO - 10.1080/13600869.2021.1999075

M3 - Article

JO - International Review of Law, Computers & Technology

JF - International Review of Law, Computers & Technology

ER -

Legal contestation of artificial intelligence-related decision-making in the United Kingdom: Reflections for policy

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this