The Dangers of Drowsiness Detection: Differential Performance, Downstream Impact, and Misuses

Jakub Grzelak, Martim Brandao

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference paperpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
118 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Drowsiness and fatigue are important factors in driving safety and work performance. This has motivated academic research into detecting drowsiness, and sparked interest in the deployment of related products in the insurance and work-productivity sectors. In this paper we elaborate on the potential dangers of using such algorithms. We first report on an audit of performance bias across subject gender and ethnicity, identifying which groups would be disparately harmed by the deployment of a state-of-the-art drowsiness detection algorithm. We discuss some of the sources of the bias, such as the lack of robustness of facial analysis algorithms to face occlusions, facial hair, or skin tone. We then identify potential downstream harms of this performance bias, as well as potential misuses of drowsiness detection technology - -focusing on driving safety and experience, insurance cream-skimming and coverage-avoidance, worker surveillance, and job precarity.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAIES 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery, Inc
Pages525-531
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9781450384735
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Jul 2021
Event4th AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society, AIES 2021 - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: 19 May 202121 May 2021

Publication series

NameAIES 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society

Conference

Conference4th AAAI/ACM Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society, AIES 2021
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period19/05/202121/05/2021

Keywords

  • bias
  • disparate impact
  • drowsiness detection
  • fairness
  • surveillance
  • technology misuses

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