Government Utilization of Artificial Intelligence and Automated Decision-Making: Standards of Review, Legal Remedies, and Procurement Safeguards

Abstract

Automation of administrative decision-making in the Canadian government is becoming more dependent on artificial intelligence (AI), which is becoming an increasingly significant instrument. There are a number of risks and challenges that are involved with the use of these technologies, despite the fact that they provide a path forward toward governance that is more efficient and effective. There is a potential that judgments will be made that are not just logical, but also fair, intelligible, transparent, and justified. This is because certain AI tools lack transparency and trustworthiness, which enables them to make conclusions that are less than trustworthy. The faith of the general people and the legitimacy of the administrative state in general would be damaged as a result of this. Although there are soft law instruments that are now in existence, such as the federal Directive on Automated Decision-Making, which try to solve many of these challenges, these laws continue to be vague and lack the capacity to be implemented. Some examples of these soft law instruments include the directive on automated decision-making. Some of the parties who are affected by an administrative decision that was made or assisted by artificial intelligence will still be needed to seek judicial review in order to oppose the judgment. In addition, it is quite anticipated that these parties will encounter severe difficulties when seeking to get further information from the responses provided by the government authorities. Consequently, the courts are obligated to take a hard position against claims of public interest privilege that are too broad and have the objective of protecting trade secrets. Additionally, the federal government and provincial governments have to enact legislation that integrates at least some components of the directives provided by the federal government. This legislation should be as comprehensive as possible.