Surveillance, AI, and Ethics

Like it or not our lives are increasingly affected by new technologies and the Criminal Justice System is one area where Artificial Intelligence will play a significant part.

On 25 November, JAAG, together with Quakers in Criminal Justice, organised a webinar entitled “Surveillance, AI, and Faith-based Ethics”.

Professor Emeritus David Lyon of Queens University, Canada spoke about “Dataveillance, AI and Human Flourishing”.
Looking at surveillance from a historical perspective, David noted some of the ways in which AI is now being used to covertly surveil all of us and harvest our data for profit (Surveillance Capitalism). He argued for a return to an earlier concept of surveillance based upon Relationality, Care, Justice, and Reliability.

Professor Emeritus Mike Nellis of the University of Strathclyde spoke about “Artificial Intelligence, Smart Prisons and Automated Probation”.
He outlined some of the ethical questions raised by the trend towards making use of AI in (underfunded and understaffed) prisons and probation services. The potential roles played by AI systems call into question what society wishes prisons and probation services to exist for. And are we heading for creation of an underclass (the recipients of probation services) whom we feel deserves to be interacted with only by machines? Should we become as discerning as the Amish are in deciding whether or not to adopt AI systems in criminal justice or elsewhere?

A recording of the webinar is available here.