TILEC Seminar: Lorena Flórez Rojas (University of Groningen) | Behind the Algorithms: The Impact of Automated Decision Making on Consumer Choices

Abstract

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to reshape consumer interactions across various domains such as fintech, banking, insurance, and e-commerce, the role of Explainable AI (XAI) in fostering transparency and understanding within Automated Decision Making (ADM) processes becomes increasingly important. This seminar aims to discuss the significance of XAI in guiding AI-driven decisions, emphasizing the necessity for AI-based products and services to prioritize user-friendliness and legal compliance by default. To mitigate issues such as discrimination, lack of transparency, and privacy concerns, certain measures are imperative. Firstly, Member States should uphold a general duty to ensure adequate sanctions, reparation, and compensation for victims affected by discriminatory or illegal ADM practices. Additionally, individuals must possess the rights to object to automated decision-making and contest the decisions made through such processes. Users should also be entitled to transparency regarding the parameters on which offers are based and the rationale behind the machine's outcomes. Moreover, it should be a fundamental principle for companies to implement effective mechanisms for auditing AI's utilization of data. ADM auditing should be conducted by independent third parties or specific public bodies to ensure impartiality and reliability in assessing AI systems' compliance with legal and ethical standards.

Speaker: Colombian lawyer, currently working as an Assitant Professor of Law at Groningen University. Lorena has received her Ph.D. in the program of Individual Person and Legal Protections at the Scuola Superiore Sant`Anna (Italy). Lorena is fascinated by the newest technologies and the way that they affect consumers and the market in general. She was previously an Assistant Professor of Private Law at Los Andes University in Bogotá (Colombia) where she taught commercial law (2019-2022), securities (2019-2022) and law and technology (2020-2022). As one the main projects, she develops the initiative named "The adoption of disruptive technologies (AI) in organizations through the creation and implementation of an ethical-legal toolkit". Throughout 2022, data and information collection was carried out by some AI projects that were being developed at the Universidad de los Andes in the CinfonIA group. Likewise, a book on disruptive technologies was coordinated and some pieces on AI in Colombia were written. In addition, she participated in the creation, design and implementation of the MOOC fAIr LAC on "How to make responsible use of artificial intelligence in the public sector". Also, she participated in the development of the MOOC on Introduction to Artificial Intelligence of the Universidad de los Andes with Coursera, which is part of the creation of the Master's Degree in Artificial Intelligence (MaIA) within which the design and creation of the module on Ethics in AI is directed. Thus, with the information collected an information file was created with qualitative and quantitative data to identify the basic principles of the toolkit, which was published in its Beta version on GECTI's webpage

Time: 10:45-11:45 hrs

Host: Antonia Stanojević
Moderator: Antonia Stanojević