The Unforeseen Consequences of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Society: A Systematic Review of Regulatory Gaps Generated by AI in the U.S.

RAND, 2020

215 Pages Posted: 5 Oct 2020

See all articles by Carlos Ignacio Gutierrez

Carlos Ignacio Gutierrez

RAND Corporation, Pardee RAND Graduate School, Students; Arizona State University (ASU) - Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law; Future of Life Institute

Date Written: January 24, 2020

Abstract

As a formal discipline, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is over 60 years old. In this time, breakthroughs in the field have generated technologies that compare to or outperform humans in tasks requiring creativity and complex reasoning. AI’s growing catalog of applications and methods has the potential to profoundly affect public policy by generating instances where regulations are not adequate to confront the issues faced by society, also known as regulatory gaps.

The objective of this dissertation is to improve our understanding of how AI influences U.S. public policy. It systematically explores, for the first time, the role of AI in the generation of regulatory gaps. Specifically, it addresses two research questions:

1. What U.S. regulatory gaps exist due to AI methods and applications?

2. When looking across all of the gaps identified in the first research question, what trends and insights emerge that can help stakeholders plan for the future?

These questions are answered through a systematic review of four academic databases of literature in the hard and social sciences. Its implementation was guided by a protocol that initially identified 5,240 candidate articles. A screening process reduced this sample to 241 articles (published between 1976 and February of 2018) relevant to answering the research questions.

This dissertation contributes to the literature by adapting the work of Bennett-Moses and Calo to effectively characterize regulatory gaps caused by AI in the U.S. In addition, it finds that most gaps: do not require new regulation or the creation of governance frameworks for their resolution, are found at the federal and state levels of government, and AI applications are recognized more often than methods as their cause.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, regulatory gaps, technology policy

Suggested Citation

Gutierrez, Carlos Ignacio and Gutierrez, Carlos Ignacio, The Unforeseen Consequences of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Society: A Systematic Review of Regulatory Gaps Generated by AI in the U.S. (January 24, 2020). RAND, 2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3649707

Carlos Ignacio Gutierrez (Contact Author)

RAND Corporation, Pardee RAND Graduate School, Students ( email )

1776 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
United States

Arizona State University (ASU) - Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law ( email )

Box 877906
Tempe, AZ 85287-7906
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlosig/

Future of Life Institute ( email )

United States

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