The fact that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking over our lives is undeniable, but the extent to which it will improve our lives is strongly debatable. I always thought that AI was objective because it wasn’t “human” so didn’t have any of the prejudices/racism/discriminations or any of the mistakes that we commit because of our flaws and biases. I thought that removing the human element would actually make the system more fair and more efficient, but after watching Coded Bias I can safely say that I am more concerned now as I learned new things about AI that I didn’t know before. I have chosen two quotes from the film that I thought held a very powerful meaning and really resonated with me to share with you.
“It’s not what will AI do to us on its own, it’s what will the powerful do to us with AI” – Zeynep Tufekci
I believe this quote is very meaningful as it identifies the greatest danger of all- not AI, but the powerful people who are in control of it. This is because these powerful people use the AI against the weaker ones, and cannot be held accountable for their actions because there is no one more powerful than them! They will be in total control.
“ What did change was making it a priority and acknowledging what our differences are so we could make a system that’s more inclusive” -Joy Buolamwin
This quote is more on the bright side as it shows what can be achieved if AI is used in the right way; creating a more inclusive system by making everyone a priority . The AI was not able to identify women of color due to a fault in the system which resulted from the information input for the AI, not the person using it. This reminded me of the game we played once (Quick Draw) where we described things by drawing them and the AI had to guess what it was. It was interesting because even if you drew the word correctly, the AI could only identify the messy/bad sketches as this is the data it collected and learned from.
Thus, after the face-detecting system was fixed, it was able to identify white women and men and also colored women and men with around the same percentage (99%). This also made me recall when we discussed bias/discrimination and the problem of othering in class. If AI can help us solve this problem by creating an inclusive system, then this is what we need AI for, instead of manipulation and surveillance.
I was very surprised by the social credit system in China. The government has total control over the citizens’ lives! If an individual does something that the government does not like/approve of, these individuals have negative credit scores and are denied their freedom (such as travel) which I believe is very depressing. I cannot imagine how people must feel to be watched by the government 24/7 and not have any kind of privacy in their lives. Another thing that intrigued me was the system in the UK that helps identify criminals by scanning peoples’ faces while they are walking in the street. This system proved to be very inaccurate yet the government is still using it and relying on it to arrest people!
After watching the film I am now more aware of the faults in the system and how dangerous it can be. However, I do not really think I have the power to do anything as an individual about this topic rather than try to gain more knowledge about it so that I can be more aware of the system and try to avoid falling in its traps (for example the ads and news it presents to me) and raise awareness about it. If am ever in the position to create something using AI, I would definitely make sure it is used to improve our society/world.
Yasmina Halbouny 