Page 59 - Redefining smart city platforms: Setting the stage for Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms - A U4SSC deliverable on city platforms

– Streamlining Governmental Processes by Putting Citizens in Control of Their Personal Data
(Buyle et al., 2019).
– When working on project architecture and use cases, re-use the “I Reveal My Attributes” (IRMA)
architecture and apps. 46

– Solid specification that allows people store their data securely in decentralized data stores
(Solid, n.d.).

8.5 MIM 5: Transparent AI

8.5.1 Goals

Governments, including local governments, are increasingly seeking to capture the opportunities
offered by automated decision-making using algorithmic systems, to improve their services.
However, government agencies and the general public have justified concerns over bias, privacy,
accountability and transparency of such automated decision-making processes. New examples
continue to emerge of potential negative consequences from the inappropriate use of (“black
box”) algorithms.

Here, “Algorithmic System” is defined as: “software that automatically makes predictions, makes
decisions and/or gives advice by using data analysis, statistics and/or self-learning logic.”

An automated decision-making algorithmic system does not necessarily require any form of
self-learning logic (such as machine learning). In actual practice, software is often used that does
not contain any self-learning logic, but the application of which may have great and sometimes
unknown or unintended impact on inhabitants.

To provide inhabitants and governments at all levels with a proper process to mitigate risk,
Amsterdam city council, along with some other cities, proposed the Fair AI MIM 5 as part of their
work to develop a European norm for procurement rules for government agencies to use when
procuring algorithmic systems to support automated decision-making. Alongside this, guidance
47
is being developed in different global regions regarding the actions that government agencies
themselves need to take to assess the level of impact and to make sure that automated decision
making is trusted, fair and transparent. This will include providing channels for inhabitants to query
the decision-making process and involving inhabitants in co-designing the algorithmic systems.
Most importantly, there is the need to ensure that the data used by those systems is accurate and
appropriate e.g., through publicly available algorithmic registries.

Redefining smart city platforms: Setting the stage for Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms 49