Whither Algorithmic Accountability?

In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal last year, Curt Levey, president of the Committee for Justice, and Ryan Hagemann, the Niskanen Center’s senior director for policy, dissected the confusing debate surrounding calls for algorithmic “transparency.” They concluded that arguments in favor of making artificial intelligence (AI) systems more transparent, though well-intentioned, were unlikely to produce the outcomes that advocates sought. Instead, they offered a solution that could better balance consumer protection and innovation: algorithmic “accountability.”

In a new report by the Center for Data Innovation (CDI), Joshua New and Daniel Castro make a similar case for prioritizing algorithmic accountability over algorithmic transparency. In the ongoing debate over how, whether, and when to regulate AI, this report pushes the conversation forward in a substantive and thoughtful manner, and adds considerable meat to the bones of Levey’s and Hagemann’s op-ed...

Read more on the Niskanen Center blog.