ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
data from real-world players and that personal information is used to at least some degree in the AI’s later outputs. How this can be reconciled with the right to be forgotten under GDPR is not clear. The complexity and opacity of AI algorithms mean consumers may not have a sufficient basis on which to give informed consent to the use of their data and may subsequently lose control over it. The AI regulation proposed by the EU categorises AI by risk level, banning the riskiest and regulating some that are less harmful. Those currently on the list of outlawed practices include programs that use subliminal techniques to distort behavior or exploit vulnerable individuals. The difficulty with framing such regulations is that there are two sides to every coin. Subliminal techniques to distort behavior can be as easily used to protect as to exploit and there should not be a presumption that technology which identifies vulnerable individuals is necessarily exploitative. It will be interesting to see whether, if gaming is captured by the new rules, it is effectively prevented from deploying some player protections. This dilemma highlights AI’s ability not just to identify individuals who need protection, but also those, often the
same people, who can most easily be exploited. Taking a fundamentally opaque technology like AI and ensuring it is only ever deployed to the benefit of consumers will be a regulatory headache. For example, AI can be used to spot where a player is preparing to cash out and close their account and prompt the operator to send them a bonus offer to re-engage them. At some point, inadvertently or otherwise, this crosses over from being a legitimate marketing tool to a technique to distort behavior. Just when that point is reached may be different for every player and will be hard to establish in law. When it comes to making decisions based on AI algorithms, caution is the watchword. As previously stated, AI spots correlations not causality: its conclusions are statistical rather than showing cause and effect. The variety of human behavior means there will always be outliers and if an automated approach is taken, there will be swathes of people excluded not just from gambling but from insurance, banking and many other services. Technology can do the heavy lifting but a human should be able to make and explain the final decision, especially when those decisions are going to have a profound effect on an individual’s life.
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