LIVE IN OBEDIENT FEAR, CITIZENS

It appears that the UK is planning to remove its citizens' right to challenge artificial intelligence generated decisions in the near future.  This has dystopia written all over it.

Those guys on the right^* made their careers writing about such exercises in crushing mindless bureaucracies:

The UK government has launched a consultation that suggests it could water down individuals' rights to challenge decisions made about them by artificial intelligence.

In documents released today, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) said that the need “to provide human review [of AI decisions] may, in future, not be practicable or proportionate.”

In the UK’s current implementation of the EU’s General Data Protection Directive (via the Data Protection Act 2018), people have a right to not be subject to a solely automated decision-making process with significant effects. However, these rights should be reviewed, according to a consultation [PDF] launched by the DCMS.

………

The DCMS went on: “The need to maintain a capability to provide human review may, in future, not be practicable or proportionate, and it is important to assess when this safeguard is needed and how it works in practice."

“It is critical that UK GDPR's provisions for automated decision-making and profiling work for organisations and for individuals. It is therefore important to examine whether Article 22 and its provisions are keeping pace with the likely evolution of a data-driven economy and society, and whether it provides the necessary protection,” it continued.

The consultation then points to the much-derided Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (TIGRR) document from May this year, which recommended that Article 22 of UK Data Protection Act 2018 (which brought GDPR into UK law) should be removed.

Instead, use of solely automated AI systems should be allowed on the basis of “legitimate interests or public interests”. The government consultation went on to ask participants whether they agree. 

Trust the Tories to put the "Dis"^† in dysfunctional.

I can see it now, "Civil rights and due process are all well and good, but it is SO awfully inconvenient."

^*Franz Kafka and George Orwell (aka Eric Arthur Blair). Read a book.
^†As in Dante's 6^th through 9^th levels of Hell.^‡
‡Seriously, just read a book.