The Hill – “Companies are looking for innovative ways to collect data to feed their data-hungry artificial intelligence systems and create innovative applications. Fortunately, some do not have to go too far. Then, there are the companies that collect data from public records to share on the internet and run analytics. There are many compelling reasons for public records to be off-limits for AI systems. Lawmakers must consider them and act soon before the practice can unleash havoc. First, public records are neither free from biases nor representative. Outcomes from the systems trained on such data are not likely to be entirely fair. In some cases, such as the court records, the data may not even be truthful. It is a well-known fact that perjury law is rudimentary and ineffective, particularly in family law, where once-close couples become each other’s worst adversaries. The warring couple can share each other’s most private secrets and also lie about them. Financial disclosures are common. AI can be used to perform a psychometric typing or financial risk profiling of the parties to a court case using the court documents combined with other openly available information. If such analysis is sold to potential employers, landlords and other providers, it can unfairly jeopardize competent applicants’ chances.” [h/t Pete Weiss]