Meeri Haataja's keyote 'When AI Meets Ethics' at Keväthumaus 2019 / Spring Splash 2019 (organised by Väestörekisterikeskus / Population Register Centre).

1. When AI Meets Ethics
Spring Splash April 3th, 2019
Meeri Haataja
@meerihaataja

2. 2
“That's the kind of place people want to live.”
The happiest country 2018-2019 (World Happiness Report)
The number one in citizen trust 2018 (Eurobarometer)
Second reputable country 2018 (Reputation Institute)
This is Finland
Social support
Generosity
Income
Freedom
Trust
Healthy life expectancy

3. 3
Algorithmic
Age
Society where authority and power
is exercised through automated
decision making and algorithmic
systems.
Society where these invisible
systems influence people’s
thoughts, emotions and actions;
and the opportunities, privileges or
penalties they’re given.
Society where its values are deeply
embedded and profoundly
integrated in technology.

4. James O'Malley. (Oct. 29, 2018). Here's a dystopian vision of the future:
A real announcement I recorded on the Beijing-Shanghai bullet train. @Psythor.

5. Data exposed
Digital manipulation
Algorithmic bias & inequality
Marginalizing the marginalized
Social scoring & mass surveillance
Machines as morale agents
Adversarial AI & data thefts
Loss of accountability
Loss of work

6. Should we do it?Can it be done?
DATA
SCIENTISTS
AI
ETHICISTS

7. We must create, develop and utilize
the means to do it right.
If it can be done, and we believe it should be done, then

8. Societal, policy &
governance level
Call for actions
on three levels
AI meets ethics
Citizen & civil
society level
Organizational strategy
& practice level
Smart regulatory environment for
clarifying the playing field.
Vision on what kind of extended
intelligence is desired.
Open dialogue between policy
makers, companies, researchers,
citizens, and regulators.
Ethics principles as ground rules.
Standards, best practices, tools and
awareness on ethical questions.
Focus on building confidence on the
ways value alignment and trustworthy
implementation are secured.
Empowering people with the
right skills and information to
secure agency.
Engaging wide civil society to
secure and serve civil society
interests.
1 32

9. 9
Transparency
enables agency

11. “It’s probably our most transparent piece of policy that we’ve ever developed for
administrative policies in Treasury Board Secretariat.”
“Normally we would have five, six, even seven years to work through something
like this,” says Benay. “We have had to work through this in months. It’s a very new
form of policy and governance perspective to work through issues this quickly. But
you’re seeing the response. For our AI day last year, we had 125 people in the room.
For AI day this year, we had 1,000.”
Alex Benay, Canada’s chief information officer
Techvibes March 8 2019

12. Level Level I
Lead to impacts that are
reversible and brief.
Level II
Lead to impacts that are likely
reversible and short-term.
Level III
Lead to impacts that difficult to
reverse, and are ongoing.
Level IV
Lead to impacts that are
irreversible, and are perpetual.
Auditing None. One reviewer. Two reviewers.
Informing None. Plain language notice. Detailed documentation in plain language.
Explanation
Meaningful explanation for
common decision results.
Upon request for decisions
resulting in the denial of a
benefit, a service, or such.
For any decisions resulting in the denial of
a benefit, a service, or other regulatory action.
Human-in-the-
loop
Decisions may be done without direct human involvement.
Specific human intervention points required;
the final decision must be made by a human
Testing
Training data to be tested for unintended data biases and other factors that may unfairly impact the outcomes. The data being
used by the Automated Decision System to be routinely tested to ensure that it is still relevant, accurate, and up-to-date.
Monitoring
On an ongoing basis to safeguard against unintentional outcomes and to ensure
compliance with institutional and program legislation, as well as this Directive.
Training None.
Documentation on the
design and functionality.
Documentation on the design
and functionality of the system.
Training courses completed.
Documentation on the design
and functionality of the system.
Re-occurring training courses
and means to verify completion.
Contingency
planning
None. Contingency plans and/or backup systems required.
Approvals None. None. Deputy Head. Treasury Board.
Government of Canada: Algorithmic Impact Assessment, Impact Level Requirements

13. 13
A Case for Finland
Trustworthy brand
EU AI HLEG leadership
67 organizations participating
in national ethics challenge
Close collaboration with IEEE
New regulations & AI policy
AI literacy, Elements of AI
Innovative public sector
Mydata & IHAN
EU presidency
Global leadership on AI ethics

14. Create juridical framework &
regulative sandbox mechanisms
for agile AI policy & regulation
development, starting from
MyData sandbox for public sector
data secondary use enablement.
Call for citizen data scientists
and AI ethicists for coordinated
civil society participation.
Standardize transparency &
algorithmic impact assessments
for industries, starting from public
sector AI. From global expertise to
local best practices to global
standards.
1 32
AI Ethics Agenda for
Finland’s EU Presidency
Testbed for moving AI ethics into practice –
Global leadership in Public-to-Citizen segment

15. Saidot.ai
Kiitos. Thank you.
Meeri Haataja
@meerihaataja