Court Rules AI Breaks Equality Laws

The Court of Appeal decided that South Wales Police had not done enough to make sure that the technology it was using was not biased in this way. The Court said:

'The fact remains, however, that SWP has never sought to satisfy themselves, either directly or by way of independent verification, that the software program in this case does not have an unacceptable bias on grounds of race or sex. There is evidence, in particular from Dr Jain, that programs for AFR can sometimes have such a bias.'

Addressing the interference in people's privacy, the Court also said that the fact that the new technology was only being trialled was no defence to the requirement to act in accordance with the law.