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The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Use of AI could worsen racism and sexism in Australia, human rights commissioner warns
AI risks entrenching racism and sexism in Australia, the human rights commissioner has warned, amid internal Labor debate about how to respond to the emerging technology. Lorraine Finlay says the pursuit of productivity gains from AI should not come at the expense of discrimination if the technology is not properly regulated. Finlay's comments follow Labor senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah breaking ranks to call for all Australian data to be 'freed' to tech companies to prevent AI perpetuating overseas biases and reflect Australian life and culture. Ananda-Rajah is opposed to a dedicated AI act but believes content creators should be paid for their work. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Productivity gains from AI will be discussed next week at the federal government's economic summit, as unions and industry bodies raise concerns about copyright and privacy protections. Media and arts groups have warned of 'rampant theft' of intellectual property if big tech companies can take their content to train AI models. Finlay said a lack of transparency in what datasets AI tools are being trained on makes it difficult to identify which biases it may contain. 'Algorithmic bias means that bias and unfairness is built into the tools that we're using, and so the decisions that result will reflect that bias,' she said. 'When you combine algorithmic bias with automation bias – which is where humans are more likely to rely on the decisions of machines and almost replace their own thinking – there's a real risk that what we're actually creating is discrimination and bias in a form where it's so entrenched, we're perhaps not even aware that it's occurring.' The Human Rights Commission has consistently advocated for an AI act, bolstering existing legislation, including the Privacy Act, and rigorous testing for bias in AI tools. Finlay said the government should urgently establish new legislative guardrails. 'Bias testing and auditing, ensuring proper human oversight review, you [do] need those variety of different measures in place,' she said. There is growing evidence that there is bias in AI tools in Australia and overseas, in areas such as medicine and job recruitment. An Australian study published in May found job candidates being interviewed by AI recruiters risked being discriminated against if they spoke with an accent or were living with a disability. Ananda-Rajah, who was a medical doctor and researcher in AI before entering parliament, said it was important for AI tools to be trained on Australian data, or risk perpetuating overseas biases. While the government has stressed the need for protecting intellectual property, she warned that not opening up domestic data would mean Australia would be 'forever renting [AI] models from tech behemoths overseas' with no oversight or insight into their models or platforms. 'AI must be trained on as much data as possible from as wide a population as possible or it will amplify biases, potentially harming the very people it is meant to serve,' Ananda-Rajah said. 'We need to free our own data in order to train the models so that they better represent us. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'I'm keen to monetise content creators while freeing the data. I think we can present an alternative to the pillage and plunder of overseas.' Ananda-Rajah raised skin cancer screening by AI as an example where the tools used for testing have been shown to have algorithmic bias. Ananda-Rajah said the way to overcome any bias or discrimination against certain patients would be to train 'these models on as much diverse data from Australia as possible', with appropriate protections for sensitive data. Finlay said any release of Australian data should be done in a fair way but she believes the focus should be on regulation. 'Having diverse and representative data is absolutely a good thing … but it's only one part of the solution,' she said. 'We need to make sure that this technology is put in place in a way that's fair to everybody and actually recognises the work and the contributions that humans are making.' An AI expert at La Trobe university and former data researcher at an AI company, Judith Bishop, said freeing up more Australian data could help train AI tools more appropriately – while warning AI tools developed overseas using international data may not reflect the needs of Australians – but that it was a small part of the solution. 'We have to be careful that a system that was initially developed in other contexts is actually applicable for the [Australian] population, that we're not relying on US models which have been trained on US data,' Bishop said. The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, is also concerned by the lack of transparency around the data AI tools use. In a statement, she said tech companies should be transparent about their training data, develop reporting tools and must use diverse, accurate and representative data in their products. 'The opacity of generative AI development and deployment is deeply problematic,' Inman Grant said. 'This raises important questions about the extent to which LLMs [large language models] could amplify, even accelerate, harmful biases – including narrow or harmful gender norms and racial prejudices. 'With the development of these systems concentrated in the hands of a few companies, there's a real risk that certain bodies of evidence, voices and perspectives could be overshadowed or sidelined in generative outputs.'
The Independent
11 hours ago
- The Independent
A legal fight is playing out around a Mexican migrant activist accused of human trafficking
A legal battle is playing out in Mexico over a well-known immigration activist and lawyer who was arrested earlier this month for alleged human trafficking and then ordered released by a judge in a case that underscored the conflicted stands on protecting migrants among Mexican officials. On Tuesday, Mexico's Attorney General's Office announced it will appeal the decision from the previous day to release Luis García Villagrán, who has helped organize migrant caravans that travel north from southern Mexico. When García Villagrán was released from detention on Monday, Judge Jonathan Izquierdo in Tapachula, a city in the state of Chiapas on Mexico's border with Guatemala, said authorities did not have enough evidence to prosecute him for human trafficking. 'I had never seen anything like it,' Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero said during the president's news briefing Tuesday. The judge ignored a multitude of presented evidence and claiming that because 'he was dedicated to protecting migrant groups, he was releasing" the suspect. Gertz Manero added that his office would appeal but did not elaborate. After his release, García Villagrán told reporters the 'judge ordered my release because he said that we do not belong to organized crime" but rather to the activist group Centro de Dignificación Humana AC, dedicated to protecting the rights of migrants and recognized by the Ministry of the Interior. The activist-lawyer, who often accompanies migrant caravans, claimed that his arrest amounted to persecution by Mexican federal authorities for his activism. Such caravans have been criticized by authorities, and are regularly blocked by law enforcement, but have been used as a mechanism for migrants to travel safely through an area that has largely been considered the most dangerous stretch of the journey to the United States. President Claudia Sheinbaum and her predecessor President Andrés Manuel López Obrador have both emphasized the need to protect migrants, but under pressure from the United States have deployed immigration agents and the National Guard to try to keep migrants from reaching the U.S. border. There have long been accusations that smugglers take advantage of the caravans to move people north. When he was arrested last week, García Villagrán was helping organize a new caravan of up to 300 people that was to leave Tapachula. The march began its walk toward central Mexico and has so far advanced only a few miles (kilometers). Authorities say García Villagrán had been wanted for years and that his arrest followed a series of investigations that identified a network of human traffickers using various migrant support organizations as a 'front' for 'human trafficking and drug distribution' in Mexico. García Villagrán was identified as the 'person in charge of obtaining false documentation" for the passage of migrants through Mexico, in addition to operating as 'one of the main promoters of migrant caravans' and having an outstanding arrest warrant. His arrest even drew comments from Sheinbaum who said during her daily news briefing on Wednesday that he was 'not an activist' but was tied to trafficking people — and 'that is the crime.'
The Guardian
19 hours ago
- The Guardian
Victoria's new anti-protest laws to be watered down amid pushback from human rights groups and unions
Proposed anti-protest laws in Victoria – including an outright ban on face masks at protests – will be significantly scaled back after pushback by human rights groups and unions. Several sources involved in the consultation process, some of whom have requested anonymity as the bill's wording is not finalised, have said that roundtable discussions in April prompted concessions from the Allan government. This included dropping plans for a full ban on 'face coverings' at protests, which was planned to carry a fine of up to $2,000. Instead, it is understood the government will propose penalties only when a person wearing a face covering is refusing to cooperate with police or believed to be committing a criminal act. A senior Victorian government source said such a measure, combined with anti-vilification laws set to take effect in September, would allow authorities to 'unmask' neo-Nazis, who marched through Melbourne's CBD in face coverings at the weekend. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Anastasia Radievska, protest rights campaigner at the Australian Democracy Network said the shift was the result of 'broad opposition' to the plan, including by human rights, legal, faith, First Nations and disability rights groups. 'The prohibition on masks has serious impacts on community health, the participation of people with disabilities, the participation of victim-survivors of domestic and sexual violence in protest. It's not an appropriate way to address the problems of racist violence, which is what the laws were advertised as tackling,' Radievska said. 'These groups have worked to ensure that any restrictions that are introduced – although we've argued that Victoria doesn't need new protest restrictions – are appropriately targeted and don't impact on the participation of these vulnerable groups in protests – and actually target radicalised violence and hate.' An outright ban on attachment devices such as chains, glue or locks, which are commonly used in climate protests, is also expected to be narrowed and will apply only when there is a community safety risk. This would mean non-violent acts such as those committed by Zelda D'Aprano – who is immortalised in bronze outside Trades Hall after she chained herself to a government building to protest against the lack of equal pay for women – would not be affected. The proposal for 'safe access' areas around places of worship, which was also floated by the government in December, has been described by several stakeholders as 'dead in the water'. But this was disputed by the government source who said it was still being considered, though was proving 'incredibly complex'. However, a ban on the display of terrorist symbols at protests is likely to proceed, despite reservations about how 'terrorist organisation' could be defined. Stakeholders were initially told the changes would be introduced when parliament resumed after the midwinter break but the timeline has now shifted to the end of the year. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The premier, Jacinta Allan, told reporters on Tuesday the laws would not be aimed at protests but at extremist behaviour. 'People who are taking the opportunity to engage in extreme and dangerous behaviour under the guise of participating in a protest – that's what the new laws will be cracking down on., she said. It comes after Victoria's new police chief, Mike Bush, ruled out a permit system for protests in a series of interviews last month, noting they had not been effective in other states. Labor's rank-and-file has also pushed back, with state conference carrying a motion earlier this month calling on the government to abandon its proposed changes. 'Inconvenience is not a form of violence,' it said, noting several wins of the labour movement were only possible as a result.
