Roy Austin, Jr., director of the Howard Law Artificial Intelligence Initiative, joined our New Thinking podcast to talk about the promise and perils of AI in the justice system.
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For many enthusiasts, artificial intelligence seems to rise above the messy world of human decision-making.
That kind of decision-making defines much of the criminal justice system. And everywhere from police departments and courtrooms to probation offices and prisons, AI tools are being put forward as solutions.
But far from transcending human values, Roy Austin says, AI is a product of those values. Recognizing that fact is critical to making sure these technologies help, rather than set back, the cause of fairness and justice.
It’s human beings who decide what data goes in. It’s human beings who decide the algorithms and how they’re going to work. And it’s human beings who are impacted the most by this.
Roy Austin, Jr. is the inaugural director of the Howard Law Artificial Intelligence Initiative. Prior to that, he served as the deputy assistant attorney general with the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice under President Obama and, until last year, the vice president of civil rights at the tech giant Meta. He’s also senior advisor to the AI and Justice Consortium, of which the Center for Justice Innovation is a founding partner.
You have to be working for the benefit of people. It cannot be simply about accumulating wealth or accumulating power.
On our New Thinking podcast, hear our conversation with Roy Austin on separating AI’s real potential from the hype, making new technologies work in the service of justice, and the inescapability of human decision-making.