The White House's AI Bill of Rights: the Principles and Expectations

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) published a whitepaper named “The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights: Making Automated Systems Work for the American People” in October 2022, one year after the OSTP intended to develop “a bill of rights for an AI-powered world” [1]. The Blueprint consists of five principles and a technical companion, including the importance of principles, principle-related expectations and, how to translate the principles into practices. However, it is not a legally binding document, so the principles are just recommendations.

The recommended five principles are:

• Safe and effective systems,
• Algorithmic Discrimination Protections,
• Data Privacy,
• Notice and explanation,
• Human Alternatives, Consideration and Fallback [1].

The Blueprint identifies the application scope of these principles as automated systems. However, not all automated systems are subject to them, but only those having “the potential to meaningfully impact the American public’s rights, opportunities, or access to critical resources or services” [1]. In the appendix of the Blueprint, some examples of these automated systems are provided, such as “surveillance and criminal justice system algorithms, education-related systems and health and health insurance technologies” [1].
 

The blueprint identifies a number of expectations for the automated systems that are under the scope of application to compy with the principles. These expectations are highly broad, and each principles mostly requires different expectations, altough some of them are common. The following diagram shows the categorization of each expectation under the relavant principles:

 

It is important to understand these principles and expectations to ensure that AI is developed and used in a responsible manner.

Overall, the Blueprint contributes to raising awareness about trustworthy and responsible artificial intelligence. However, it is not sufficient, especially in terms of affecting the practices of the private sector. To have an effect on the practices of the private sector and ensure accountability, additional legislative efforts are necessary.

Writer : Gamze Büşra Kaya

Reference

[1]“AI BILL OF RIGHTS MAKING AUTOMATED SYSTEMS WORK FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE,” 2022. Available: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Blueprint-for-an-AI-Bill-of-Rights.pdf