Download This PaperCapacitas Ex Machina: Are Computerised Assessmets of Mental Capacity a Benchmark or 'Red Line' for Artificial Intelligence?
Simon Deakin & Christopher Markou (eds) Is Law Computable? Critical Perspectives on Law + Artificial Intelligence (Hart Publishing 2020)
University of Cambridge Faculty of Law Research Paper Forthcoming
60 Pages Posted: 3 Jun 2020
Date Written: April 20, 2020
Abstract
This paper traces the history of computers in medicine, focusing on the rise of Expert Systems (ES) in the mid-20th century, to the rise of connectionist AI research in its latter half, and ultimately the development of Automated Mental State Detection (AMSD), fMRI scanning, and human brain interfaces.
Following the critique of Joseph Weizenbaum in Computer Power and Human Reason (1976), the paper examines theoretical, practical, and ethical problems for implementing these systems in the real world, and how mental health law and psychiatry are likely to be impacted by near term technological advances which will increasingly 'objectify' the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.
It concludes with a discussion for how computational reasoning could--and indeed should--operate in the context of mental capacity decisions in England and Wales, and suggests that the use of machines to assess mental capacity should be a "Red Line" for the ingress of AI and related technologies. It concludes with reflections on the legal implications of this claim, and identifies opportunities for further research.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Expert Systems, Mental Disorder, Mental Health Law, Court of Protection, Ethics, Public Policy, Medical Ethics, Legal Theory, Theory of Computation
JEL Classification: I14, K1, K4, K36, O32, O33, O38, L51
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation