Human Rights Commission warns government over 'dangerous' use of AI

The Human Rights Commission has warned that the federal government's growing reliance on artificial intelligence and automated decisions is dangerous and will increasingly put vulnerable Australians at risk. Releasing new research on Australians' attitudes on the use of artificial intelligence, Human Rights Commissioner Edward Santow has urged the government to overhaul its approach to the emerging technology to avoid another scandal like the "robo-debt" scheme that unlawfully calculated and pursued debts from welfare recipients. Government agencies are increasingly relying on automated decisions rather than humans. Mr Santow said the people that tended to be least aware of the rise of automated decisions by government agencies like the Australian Taxation Office and Centrelink were the most disenfranchised in society. "That is really, really concerning to me. And that's because there's a real tendency, when new technology is being trialled, essentially to beta test it on some of the most vulnerable people," he said.