Currently, under Article 22 of UK GDPR, individuals have the right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing that significantly affects them—unless certain strict conditions are met, such as consent or legal necessity. The new draft of the Data Use and Access Bill will reverse this, allowing decisions to be automated.
Automated systems, especially AI large language models (LLMs), have been repeatedly shown to replicate and even amplify social biases. The UK Government’s own impact assessment acknowledges this risk, yet the bill proceeds with relaxed safeguards.
To summarise:
“This would enable law enforcement to use automated decisions about people regarding their socioeconomic status, regional or postcode data, inferred emotions, or even regional accents. This increases the already broad possibilities for bias, discrimination, and lack of transparency at the hands of law enforcement.”
-Paige Collings, EFF 2025 – Full Article
I rarely comment on political or legal issues, but this bill rekindled memories of a half-written post about how little most people understand what truly happens when they click ‘Accept All’.
This bill was discussed in the House of Lords, however at this time the clauses on automated decision making (ADM) remains unchanged. At the time of writing, 19th May 2025, this bill is in the final stages of amendments within the House of Commons before it is granted Royal ascent, so time will tell to see whether there are any adjustments to the bill itself.
As with most things, there are two sides to this story. At first glance, the changes proposed in the Bill, particularly those relating to automated decision making, appear to represent a step forward in terms of efficiency. The PL&B report outlines a range of practical benefits: quicker decisions, reduced administrative overheads, and more streamlined systems. And yes, for businesses and even areas of the public sector, that is undoubtedly attractive.
The PL&B Spotlight on Automated Decision Making (ADM)
To quote Jeff Goldblum, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” This is especially true when those decisions have a direct impact on people’s lives in significant and often personal ways. The speed and scale that automation brings are accompanied by equally serious ethical responsibilities. When a system decides something based on a person’s postcode, financial background, or biometric information, it must do more than deliver efficiency; it must be fair, transparent, and open to scrutiny.
To my mind, accountability is key with a system such as this. However, the precedent has been set multiple times in years gone by that accountability of impact on individual citizens is almost never
This is not an argument against innovation. It is simply a reminder that efficiency cannot be the only value we optimise for. Without strong safeguards in place, we risk continuing the erosion of our fundamental rights in the name of convenience. And once those boundaries are redrawn, reversing them becomes far more difficult.
Further Reading:
- What about Fairness, Bias, and Discrimination? – ICO
- Data Use and Access Impact Assessment
- Cosigned Letter to Yvette Cooper MP and Peter Kyle MP
References
Collings, P., 2025. EFF, civil society groups, and academics call on UK Home Secretary to address flawed Data Bill. [online] Electronic Frontier Foundation. Available at: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/04/eff-civil-society-groups-academics-call-uk-home-secretary-address-flawed-data-bill [Accessed 1 May 2025].
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), n.d. What is automated individual decision-making and profiling? [online] Available at: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/individual-rights/automated-decision-making-and-profiling/what-is-automated-individual-decision-making-and-profiling/#id2 [Accessed 5 May 2025].
Maclean, F., Crawford, G., Smyth, A. and Meusburger, L., 2025. Data Use and Access Bill: Automated decision-making in the spotlight. [pdf] Latham & Watkins. Available at: https://www.lw.com/admin/upload/SiteAttachments/Data-Use-and-Access-Bill-Automated-decision-making-in-the-spotlight.pdf [Accessed 7 May 2025].
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