Sandra Wachter - The Theory of Artificial Immutability

The Theory of Artificial Immutability: Protecting Algorithmic Groups under Anti-Discrimination Law
Artificial intelligence is increasingly used to make life-changing decisions, including about who is successful with their job application and who gets into university. To do this, AI often creates groups that haven’t previously been used by humans. Many of these groups are not covered by non-discrimination law (e.g., ‘dog owners’ or ‘sad teens’), and some of them are even incomprehensible to humans. In her talk, Sandra Wachter (Oxford Internet Institute) argues that algorithmic groups should be protected by non-discrimination law and shows how this could be achieved.
The talk was hosted by the Weizenbaum Institute and the European New School of Digital Studies at the Europa-Universität Viadrina.
Sandra Wachter is Professor of Technology and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford where she researches the legal and ethical implications of AI, Big Data, and robotics as well as Internet and platform regulation. In June 2023, she was a Distinguished Fellow at the Weizenbaum Institute. Her current research focuses on profiling, inferential analytics, explainable AI, algorithmic bias, diversity, and fairness, as well as governmental surveillance, predictive policing, human rights online, and health tech and medical law.