Thank you, Mr President,
The United Kingdom thanks the Special Rapporteur for his report on artificial intelligence in the context of disability.
The report recognises that the use of artificial intelligence can have benefits, as well as discriminatory impacts and other risks with regards to the rights of disabled people.
The UK Government remains committed to implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities through strong policies and legislation. Under the Equality Act 2010, employers and service providers are prohibited from discriminating against employees, job applicants and service users because of a protected characteristic such as disability or sex. This includes where they deploy artificial intelligence - for example algorithms - as part of their recruitment processes or customer service design.
The UK published its National AI Strategy in September 2021. The strategy recognises that issues such as the equalities impacts of AI will be an important consideration as we continue to develop policy on the governance and regulation of AI. In this work we will involve relevant regulators and equalities groups that represent disabled people.
Mr Special Rapporteur,
What more can states do to ensure disabled people are included in artificial intelligence policy development?
Thank you.
