Essex human rights expert Dr Daragh Murray has been awarded major funding to look at the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) assisted decision-making on individual development and the functioning of democracy.
Dr Murray, who has been awarded over £1 million for the project as part of the UK Research and Innovation’s Future Leaders Fellowships scheme, said: “Governments around the world are already using AI to help make important decisions that affect us all. This data-driven approach can offer key benefits, but it also relies on the ever-increasing collection of data on all aspects of our personal and public lives, representing both a step change in the information the state holds on us all, and a transformation in how that information is used.
“I want to look at the unintended consequences of this level of surveillance – the impact on how individuals develop their identity and how democratic society flourishes. Will a chilling effect emerge that changes individual behaviour? And what might the impact of this be? Will the knowledge that our activities are tracked and then translated into government decisions affect how we, for example, develop our sexual identity or our political opinions? Will we all be pushed towards the status quo in fear of the consequences of standing out?
“Ultimately what will the effect of this be on the well-being of our democracy?”
The Future Leaders Fellowships scheme is designed to establish the careers of world-class research and innovation leaders across the UK.
Dr Murray’s project will be interdisciplinary, working across human rights law, sociology and philosophy.
