Mechanical Cognition, Determinism and Individual Justice: New Challenges for Administrative Law from AI
Artist: Nicolas Berger
Dr Will Bateman presented ‘Mechanical Cognition, Determinism and Individual Justice: New Challenges for Administrative Law from AI’ at a lunchtime webinar on the 13th of October 2020. The event was chaired by Paul Pfitzner.
Seminar Abstract: Existing public law rules and government institutions are built on certain assumptions about the cognitive capacities of public officials and citizens: intuitive abilities to understand complex texts, non-textual human communication, opportunistic behaviour and the need for compassion/empathy. Many public law rules also assume that public officials and citizens have free wills and must be treated as unique individuals.
The rise of AI brings with it the rise of mechanical (or computational) systems of cognition, which differ in important ways from human cognition, being: more precise, more transparent, more consistent, less flexible, less capable of responding to complex texts and environments and less obviously capable of compassion. Machine learning systems challenge ideas around free will and challenge assumptions about the uniqueness of individual behaviour.
This talk explored the various challenges the widespread adoption of AI by governments poses to traditional public law and proposes a set of legislative and doctrinal solutions.
Paul Pfitzner is the Senior Assistant Ombudsman, Industry and Strategy Branch, in the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman.