AI’s Promise and Peril for the U.S. Government

The Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) project at Standford University recently released a paper on the potentials and risks associated with the use of artificial intelligence in the US government. Transposable in part to the government contexts of other states, the latter examines the potential benefits of the automation of certain activities and the associated risks, based on the study of 142 federal agencies, including the Office of Justice Programs.

While the benefits are real and tangible, key issues and problems remain. Questions arise, for example, about the proper design of algorithms and user interfaces, the respective scope of human and machine decisionmaking, the boundaries between public actions and private contracting, the capacity to learn over time using AI, and whether the use of AI is even permitted in certain contexts.

The full paper and its conclusions are available here.

This content has been updated on 11 November 2020 at 18 h 50 min.