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UMSI lecturer Merve Hickok publishes new book on dangers of AI in the public sector

Merve Hickok. From Trustworthy AI Principles to Public Procurement Practices.

Monday, 12/02/2024

By Noor Hindi

University of Michigan School of Information lecturer Merve Hickok’s new book explores the risks of artificial intelligence technologies within the public sector. The result of more than 20 interviews with public procurement professionals across several countries, “From Trustworthy AI Principles to Public Procurement Practices” (De Gruyter) takes a fresh look at the risks of AI and provides actionable recommendations for mitigation. 

“We talk about trustworthy AI principles both in the public and private sectors, but we do not have good guidance on how to implement these principles during procurement decisions and before these systems are embedded,” Hickok says. “Especially in public sector AI, there are huge possibilities for AI to undermine human rights and democratic values if it’s not developed, procured and managed responsibly.” 

These risks, Hickok says, impact any services or systems that touch the public sector, such as government benefits, tax reviews, immigration management and criminal justice systems. And as governments rush to implement AI technologies, the public sector needs to better understand AI-specific challenges and incidents, as well as beneficial emerging practices across the world. 

“There’s a lot of activity to get AI into the public sector, but we still procure these systems like we do traditional software,” Hickok says. “There’s a lot of commitment to trustworthy AI, but not a lot of mechanisms deploying these values and principles.” 

Hickok is hoping the book gets in the hands of researchers, policy makers and public officials. It’s the first book of its kind to provide an in-depth analysis of the public procurement of AI systems while highlighting incidents, emerging practices and lessons learned from multiple countries. 

“This book is a long time in the making, and it’s a deeply critical time to be engaging with this topic,” she says. 

Join Hickok on Friday, December 6 for a book talk about “From Trustworthy AI Principles to Public Procurement Practices” with the Michigan Institute for Data & AI in Society (MIDAS). More details can be found here

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Merve Hickok is president of the Center for AI and Digital Policy and the founder of aiethicist.org. Learn more about Hickok by visiting her UMSI faculty profile