The US government is making efforts to weaken an international treaty on human rights and AI software by lobbying Council of Europe members to exempt private vendors from compliance. Diplomats are meeting in Strasbourg, France, this week to create a final version of the treaty, which would require organizations using AI to respect human rights and adhere to democratic principles. However, the US, with backing from the UK, Canada, and Japan, is seeking to exempt private companies from the latest draft of the treaty and have it focus only on government uses of AI. The European Union has warned that exempting private companies from the rules would diminish the treaty’s value and send a wrong political message. It’s unclear why the US government wants to water down the treaty when US President Joe Biden has pushed for similar objectives. The US and its allies want not only to exempt private companies from the treaty, but some negotiators also want to exempt government AI users from following the privacy, human rights, and other provisions when national security is implicated. The exemption for private companies, including big tech, would result in giving these companies a blank check rather than effectively protecting human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. The AI treaty calls for human review of AI decisions, prohibits discrimination by AIs, and requires organizations to inform customers or users when an AI is making decisions about them. The Council of Europe, a human rights organization with 46 member states, has been working on the AI treaty for about three years.
2024-03-17 07:00:03
Article from www.computerworld.com