A presentation by Prof. Sandra Wachter (University of Oxford). This event is part of the Digital Governance Research Colloquium hosted by the Centre for Digital Governance.
Large language models (LLM) and other generative AI systems pose new risks and opportunities for society. LLMs are not designed to tell the truth in any overriding sense. They frequently stray far from the truth or “hallucinate” in their quest to be convincing and helpful to users, but equally are prone to produce small mistruths, oversimplifications of complex topics, and responses biased towards certain commonly held beliefs or schools of thought due to “common token bias”. While this can be very harmful for individuals and society, it begs the question: is this legal? Do large language models have a legal duty to tell the truth? To answer this, I explore EU human rights law, product liability directives, the AI Act and Digital Services Act, and related jurisprudence to search for existing truth duties.
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. 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. At the OII, Professor Sandra Wachter leads and coordinates the Governance of Emerging Technologies (GET) Research Programme that investigates legal, ethical, and technical aspects of AI, machine learning, and other emerging technologies. Professor Wachter is also an affiliate and member at numerous institutions, such as the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Values, Ethics and Innovation, the UNESCO, the European Commission’s Expert Group on Autonomous Cars, the Law Committee of the IEEE, the World Bank’s Task Force on Access to Justice and Technology, the United Kingdom Police Ethics Guidance Group, the British Standards Institution, the Law Faculty at Oxford, the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, the Oxford Martin School and Oxford University Press.
Registration is required for this event.