AI In The Dock: The Trial Of Superdebthunterbot

It's not often that the art world intersects with technology law. But that's exactly what happened when artist Helen Knowles staged a performance of The Trial of Superdebthunterbot at the Zabludowicz Collection in north London on 26 February.

"A debt collecting company, Debt BB buys the student loan book from the government for more than it is worth, on the condition it can use unconventional means to collect debt. Debt BB codes an algorithm to ensure fewer loan defaulters by targeting individuals through the use of big data, placing job adverts on web pages they frequent. Superdebthunterbot has a "capacity to self-educate, to learn and to modify it's coding sequences independent of human oversight" ( Susan Schullppi, Deadly Algorithms). Five individuals have died as a result of the algorithm's actions, by partaking in unregulated medical trials. In the eyes of the International Ether Court, can the said algorithm be found guilty?"