You might think discussing data (rather than AI) from the government is so last decade, but think again! 🤔💡 The Aus Government Data Summit was an absolute blast! 🎉 The thoughtful questions and discussions from the public service continue to amaze me! 🙌

I had the privilege of delivering my talk on “𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐈: 𝐍𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚, 𝐀𝐈, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠” and joined a topical panel “AI in the APS”.

In my talk on accountability, I focused on two critical points:
1️⃣ We need new models of accountability. As AI systems advance, the traditional role of human oversight and expertise is shifting. In many domains, AI can perform at or above the level of average humans, sometimes even experts! This shift has several implications:
✅ Understanding: When humans can no longer fully comprehend how AI systems reach conclusions, it undermines traditional accountability frameworks that rely on transparency and explainability.
✅ Performance: If AI outperforms humans in certain tasks, it raises the question of whether humans should be in the loop at all, and if so, in what capacity. Definitely not as a symbolic liability sponge.
✅ Verification: The inability of humans to independently verify AI-generated solutions without essentially “redoing” the work presents a challenge for establishing trust and accountability.

Simply applying traditional accountability to AI systems doesn’t work! 🚫

2️⃣ Accountability shouldn’t be seen as a long checklist of processes and roles and committees. The importance lies in the quality of these measures and how they address the unique properties of AI. 🎯 Too often, leaders quickly discharge their accountability duties by asking if a process has been set up, relegating other discussions as mere “details” that a leader shouldn’t get bogged down in. 🙅‍♂️

We CSIRO’s Data61 introduced our accountability metrics work as the first step to measure accountability and process quality. 📏✅
https://lnkd.in/gSG5nr7S
https://lnkd.in/gsQz5swy

Let’s continue this crucial conversation on navigating accountability in the age of AI!