The Right to Explanation: Confronting the New Age Algorithmic Opacity

Algorithms are increasingly making or influencing decisions that affect employment, credit, healthcare, education, access to online platforms and other important areas of human life.

But what happens when an algorithm makes a decision against you—and nobody tells you why?

In this episode, we examine the emerging Right to Explanation: the idea that individuals affected by consequential algorithmic decisions should receive meaningful, intelligible information about the logic, procedure and principles actually applied in reaching those decisions.

The discussion explores:

• The algorithmic “black box” and the problem of opacity
• Why algorithmic decision-making creates a new form of institutional power
• The connection between explanation, accountability and the ability to challenge decisions
• Kantian dignity and the idea that human beings must be treated as ends rather than mere data points
• Informed self-advocacy and why understanding rules is essential to defending one's interests
• Procedural justice and the importance of understanding decisions that affect us
• The relationship between the Right to Explanation and due process
• International human-rights foundations in the UDHR, ICCPR and ECHR
• The GDPR and meaningful information concerning automated decision-making
• The EU AI Reglations and Platform Work Directive
• China's Personal Information Protection Law and Brazil's LGPD
• The CJEU's decision in CK v. Dun & Bradstreet Austria
• The unresolved tension between algorithmic transparency and trade secrecy

The central question is increasingly difficult to avoid:

Can an institution exercise significant power over a person while refusing to explain how the decision affecting that person was reached?

As artificial intelligence becomes more deeply embedded in social and institutional decision-making, the Right to Explanation may become an essential safeguard for human autonomy, dignity and effective remedies.

Read the full article: https://virtuslegis.com/the-right-to-explanation/

⚠️ Disclaimer: Please refer to the original blogpost at https://virtuslegis.com/the-right-to-explanation for the authoritative version. The channel accepts no responsibility for views or conclusions expressed in this AI generated podcast.

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