Last Friday EDF submitted a written feedback on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) High Level Group – Draft Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI. Some of the main points we raise are to truly embrace human diversity when developing AI solutions, always incorporate accessibility, and involve persons with disabilities meaningfully and from the outset. Additionally, we also point out the fact that procurement of AI must also be tackled in this document.
EDF welcomes the development of these Ethics Guidelines, but we also underline that we nevertheless need strong legal safeguards to protect the rights of all citizens, including citizens with disabilities, from AI-powered technology that could cause them harm or discriminate them. This is why we suggest making a clearer distinction between ethics and law, since self-regulation and voluntary compliance with ethics guidelines are not enough to offer reassurance to consumers, including consumers with disabilities.
Read EDF feedback to the draft Ethics Guidelines on Trustworthy AI [1,6 MB DOC]
Why organisations of persons with disabilities should be involved in AI discussions?
The pace of development in Artificial intelligence is so fast that we must keep up with it, being aware of these developments is very important to our ability to engage in the discussions and ensure the developments are inclusive and accessible. Artificial intelligence should be developed in a way that does not discriminate a person on the grounds of his or her disabilities, but supports the independent living and participation of all persons with disabilities. EDF’s feedback provides valuable suggestions, making sure that persons with disabilities are not overlooked. Lastly EDF provides some suggested questions on how to verify that an AI system is designed for all.