People should be held accountable for AI and algorithm errors, rights commissioner says

People need to be held accountable for the mistakes AI and algorithms make on their behalf, such as that seen in the government's robodebt scandal, according to Australian human rights commissioner Ed Santow. The proposal comes in a new discussion paper on the impact of new technologies on human rights in Australia, released by the commission on Tuesday. After the Australian government backed down on the use of automatic debt notices based on income averaging, and had legislation for its facial recognition system rejected by a government-dominated parliamentary committee, Santow said it was time to set some rules to govern how these new technologies are used. "Robodebt is just a prominent example of data science and government AI being used in decision-making," he said. All government use of AI should be enshrined in legislation, he said.