‘Automated Republic’ – Interrogating Government Use of Automated Decision-Making Systems
Channel: Hasgeek TV
Date: 2020-12-18

Over the last few years, governments around the world, including in India, have aggressively adopted and integrated automated systems in the course of their public functions. While the use of these systems ranges from crime-mapping for ‘predictive policing’, to fraud detection systems in public welfare schemes, one thing is common – algorithmic technologies are progressively transforming the institutions of law and governance, often in ways which cause harm to democratic values and constitutional rights.

Divij Joshi (Mozilla Fellow) and the Centre for Internet and Society, India, are organising the event ‘Automated Republic’, on December 18, to convene discussions on the implications of automated decision-making systems employed by governments. Join us to understand how these systems may conflict with important constitutional and legal values, and to build an agenda for challenging the harms that they may cause.

The event will include the public launch and discussion of ‘The AI Observatory’, an open, interactive toolkit for interrogating and challenging consequential automated decision-making systems in India. The project documents and explores how government agencies in India are utilising automated decision-making systems, what harms and risk they pose, and explores participatory accountability for such systems.

It will be followed by a discussion on ‘Algorithmic Accountability in Practice’, where panelists will share their experiences and practices on methods for understanding and resisting harmful algorithmic systems. The discussion will bring together activists, journalists and lawyers to discuss their experiences in how to understand algorithmic accountability in the present context of the use of automated decision-making systems by governments around the world.

The detailed schedule is below:

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM IST (1030 – 1130 UTC): Discussion on ‘AI Observatory’ – A Toolkit to investigate Automated Decision-Making in India

Panelists: Vidushi Marda (Article 19), Padmini Ray Murray (Design Beku), Arindrajit Basu (Centre for Internet and Society) moderated by Divij Joshi (Mozilla Fellow)

5:15 PM – 6:30 PM IST (1145 – 1300 UTC): Panel on Algorithmic Accountability in Practice

Panelists: Anton Ekker (Independent Legal Practitioner), Cori Crider (Foxglove Legal), Matthias Spielkamp (Algorithm Watch), Vrinda Bhandari (Independent Legal Practitioner), Divij Joshi moderated by Arindrajit Basu (CIS)

https://hasgeek.com/cisindia/automated-republic-interrogating-government-use-of-automated-decision-making-systems/