Critical Perspectives on Governance Mechanisms for AI/ML Systems

Stark, Luke; Greene, Daniel; Hoffmann, Anna Lauren

This chapter provides a critical overview of proposed mechanisms for the ethical design and governance of contemporary artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) systems. We describe various proposed mechanisms for AI/ML governance, paying particular attention to the possibilities and limits of these mechanisms for realizing truly just and equitable societal outcomes. In doing so we argue each category of intervention has reinforced and supported the broader regimes of corporate and state power under which AI/ML technologies are being developed, and that reformist initiatives relying on these mechanism risk cooptation and failure. We conclude by highlighting the abolitionist approach to AI-driven surveillance technology taken by the Movement for Black Lives and the workplace democracy approach taken by the #TechWontBuildIt technology workers campaign as alternative paradigms for AI/ML governance.