Americans Are Uncomfortable with Automated Decision-Making

Imagine a company you recently applied to work at used an artificial intelligence program to analyze your application to help expedite the review process. Does that creep you out? Well, you’re not alone.

Consumer Reports recently released a national survey finding that Americans are uncomfortable with use of artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic decision-making in their day to day lives. The survey of 2,022 U.S. adults was administered by NORC at the University of Chicago and examined public attitudes on a variety of issues. Consumer Reports found:

• Nearly three-quarters of respondents (72%) said they would be “uncomfortable”— including nearly half (45%) who said they would be “very uncomfortable”—with a job interview process that allowed AI to screen their interview by grading their responses and in some cases facial movements.
• About two-thirds said they would be “uncomfortable”— including about four in ten (39%) who said they would be “very uncomfortable”— allowing banks to use such programs to determine if they were qualified for a loan or allowing landlords to use such programs to screen them as a potential tenant.
• More than half said they would be “uncomfortable”— including about a third who said they would be “very uncomfortable”— with video surveillance systems using facial recognition to identity them, and with hospital systems using AI or algorithms to help with diagnosis and treatment planning.

The survey findings indicate that people are feeling disempowered by lost control over their digital footprint, and by corporations and government agencies adopting AI technology to make life-altering decisions about them. Yet states are moving at breakneck speed to implement AI “solutions” without first creating meaningful guidelines to address these reasonable concerns. In California, Governor Newsom issued an This article has been indexed from Deeplinks