In-person event

This presentation uses contemporary examples of automated systems operating in the UK and Australia to examine the duty to give reasons and the extent to which automated systems currently in use in the administrative state give effect to the duty.

The discussion seeks to answer three questions: [1] what are the purposes of the duty to give reasons in administrative law, [2] what information must be disclosed in order to satisfy those purposes, and [3] are machine learning algorithms capable of providing information that can satisfy those requirements? The analysis distinguishes between interpretable machine learning algorithms where the features determinative to the prediction are knowable and inscrutable machine learning algorithms where they are not. The argument is that interpretable machine learning algorithms (in conjunction with human decision-makers) can provide reasons that meet legal standards of justification, whereas inscrutable machine learning algorithms cannot satisfy such a duty.

The talk explores the legal implications of these findings given the context of increasing government adoption of AI in the administrative state.

About the speaker

Alexandra Sinclair is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the Centre for Automated Decision-making and Society (ADM+S) at Sydney Law School. She has recently come from the London School of Economics and Political Science where her PhD thesis examined using public law as an accountability mechanism for automated decision-making. Alexandra spent the last five years working for a legal NGO in London where she worked extensively on proposed policy reforms to AI regulation in the UK. Her work on frontline automated decision-making in government was covered by the Guardian and in 2023 she gave oral evidence to the House of Commons on proposed changes to the UK’s data protection law. She has recently published a piece in the journal Public Law on automated decision-making and government opacity in the UK state.

Chair: Professor Lisa Burton-Crawford, Sydney Law School

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Wednesday 26 February 2025

Time: 1-2pm

Venue: Sydney Law School, Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney, Camperdown campus

CPD Points: 1

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This event is co-hosted by the University of Sydney Law School and ADM+S.