SAG-AFTRA Discusses the Risks of Decision-Making Technology at Virtual Panel

SAG-AFTRA legal consultant Danielle Van Lier was a panelist at the Risk and Risks Assessments: A Look at California’s Proposed A.I. & Privacy Regulations virtual panel on Nov. 21. The panel was hosted by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, an independent nonprofit focused on privacy issues in the digital age, with EPIC Executive Director Alan Butler serving as moderator. Other panel speakers included Tech Equity Chief Program Officer Samantha Gordon, UC Berkeley Labor Center Technology and Work Program Director Annette Bernhardt, and Stanford University Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and Data Policy Fellow Jen King.

The panel spotlighted new regulations being implemented by California on artificial intelligence usage and data, specifically surrounding automated decision-making technology, known as ADMT. Van Lier focused on the impact ADMTs may have on SAG-AFTRA members and the media landscape at large, noting that A.I. trained to consider certain types of data may have far-reaching consequences on the creative decisions studios make, including what projects may be greenlit and who is cast in certain roles.

“I think there’s a broader conversation [to be had] about the ethics around [ADMTs] that often gets lost. I often look at the topic of bias in this space … and this technology is only as good as the data it’s fed, she said. “If you are making new decision-making tools, you’ll get two bad extremes: You’ll have an A.I. that’s self-trained to pick out things it was trained to pick out based on programmed bias — and you’ll get the other extreme, the inherent human bias.”

A full replay of the panel is available on epic.org.

The views expressed by the guests are their own and not that of SAG-AFTRA. Any mention of products or services does not imply SAG-AFTRA's endorsement.

Photo:  Clockwise from left, EPIC Executive Director Alan Butler, SAG-AFTRA legal consultant Danielle Van Lier, Tech Equity Chief Program Officer Samantha Gordon, UC Berkeley Labor Center Technology and Work Program Director Annette Bernhardt during the ‘Risk and Risks Assessments: A Look at California’s Proposed A.I. & Privacy Regulations’ virtual panel on Nov. 21.