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KANISA GEORGE

In the 2004 science fiction action film I Robot, detective Del Spooner, played by Will Smith, battles highly intelligent, sophisticated robots in the year 2035. Set in a dystopian world, these intelligent robots fill public service positions and operate under rules to keep humans safe. For some time, movies have featured human existence in concert with robots and, in some cases, their dominance over civilisation. But until the late 1950s, artificial intelligence or AI was an imaginative concept that could be traced back to the days of philosophical thinking. In fact, mankind has long considered the idea of inanimate objects coming to life as intelligent beings, and by the turn of the 21st century it had gained international attention.
In his paper titled, What is Artificial Intelligence? American computer scientist John Mc Carthy defines AI as the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programmes. It is a school of thought that focuses on a computer system's ability to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as visual perception and speech recognition. Criticised by philosopher and AI critic Hubert Dreyfus for its inability to fully capture unconscious skills, opponents also raise concerns about laws and regulations. Although research on AI has moved with lightning speed, regulations on AI are still in their infancy, and guidelines and ethical codes aren't unanimously applied.
In this mysterious world of robots and androids, a multitude of legal issues can arise. Data protection and privacy, transparency, surveillance, public autonomous vehicles, and lethal autonomous weapons systems are concerns that directly impact human safety.
In response, many countries have developed or are in the process of developing national AI or digital strategies, especially in the area of data protection and lethal autonomous weapons. A comparative study done in 2019 revealed that Canada was the first country to launch a national AI strategy, with several other countries establishing specific commissions to look into regulation issues. Interestingly, except for the EU, no jurisdiction has yet published such specific ethical or legal frameworks for AI.
In April 2021, the European Commission released its highly-anticipated Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act. One key element of the proposed regulation focused on the need for an ecosystem of effective AI assurance, which gives citizens and businesses confidence that the use of AI technologies conforms to a set of agreed standards and is trustworthy in practice. The development of a risk framework under the Act aims to protect data and human players and is categorised based on potential dangers. For example, AI that poses limited risks, such as chatbots, will be subject to transparency obligations (for example, technical documentation on function, development, and performance) and may similarly choose to adhere to voluntary codes of conduct.
Self-driving cars no longer represent the distant future. And it's only a matter of time before they are cruising up and down public roadways. In 2016, an amendment to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic removed legal obstacles and allowed driving tasks to be transferred to automated technologies. Importantly, countries that have enacted regulations to allow for testing autonomous vehicles on public roads generally require a human driver.
One issue of increasing controversy is lethal autonomous weapons systems (Laws). Most signatories to the convention on certain Conventional Weapons agree that meaningful human control is necessary for Laws. One comparative study found that countries either support the adoption of a new, legally binding treaty to ban the use of Laws, support the adoption of a political declaration as a middle ground to develop a shared understanding of the challenges posed or think that no action is necessary at this point.
An article published on Monday by London's Evening Standard reported that AI had been used by the British army for the first time during a live-firing drill in Estonia. The article proffered that due to the success of the exercise, the UK armed forces could potentially use AI to predict adversaries' behaviour, perform reconnaissance and relay real-time intelligence from the battlefield.
In the Caribbean, Jamaica seems to be leading the way in discussions of AI. A 2017 article in the Jamaican Observer reported that the Jamaican government had been looking to position Jamaica to take advantage of the benefits of AI in boosting economic growth and job creation. According to Jamaica’s former Minister of Science Technology and Mining
Andrew Wheatley, there has been ongoing discussion involving the government and other stakeholders on how AI can best be utilised to benefit the country.
A world without AI is a far-gone existence. But there must be a balance between technological advancement and human safety. How well this area could be regulated and controlled for the benefit of mankind is left to be seen.
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