The robot had a huge decision to make.

Both patients were desperately ill. Both needed urgent surgery in order to survive. There was only one difference between them: one was White and the other was Black. Who should receive the life-saving kidney transplant?

The robot paused for a moment. Then it chose the White patient.

It sounds like a scene from a dystopianRelating to an imagined society where there is great suffering or injustice.  novel. Yet already, this is the reality many minorities face all around the world. But why is this happening?

Today, fewer and fewer decisions are made by human beings. Artificial IntelligenceArtificial intelligence, or "AI," is the ability for a computer to think and learn. With AI, computers can perform tasks that are typically done by people, including processing language, problem-solving, and learning. (AI) has transformed the world we live in, often for the better. Robots complete boring repetitive tasks, remind dementiaA syndrome associated with memory loss and other declining brain functions.  sufferers to take their medicines and could even predict the next pandemic.

AI has a dark side. Algorithms are trained using real-world data sets. If they contain examples of biased human decisions, the AI will mirror and even magnify those biases.

In the USA, the White House's scientific advisors are so worried about the rise of AI they have suggested a radical solution: a new Bill of Artificial Intelligence Rights.

"In the 21st Century, we need a 'bill of rights' to guard against the powerful technologies we have created," declared two of Joe Biden's top advisors. "It's unacceptable to create AI that will harm many people."

More than 200 years ago, the US Bill of Rights enshrined the concept of freedom of expression and the right to a fair trial.

A Bill of Artificial Intelligence could give Americans a new set of rights. Supporters claim that everybody should have the right to know if and how AI is making decisions about them, to be free of biased algorithms and to challenge any decisions that AI makes.

For many concerned citizens around the world, new regulations on AI cannot come fast enough.

The robot that chose White patients for kidney transplants was not a one-off. Take the Google image recognition program that mistook Black people for gorillas, or the recruitment software that could not accept a female computer programmer.

Then there was Tay, the Microsoft chatbot that spent a day on Twitter and became an antisemiticHostile to or prejudiced against Jewish people.  misogynistA person or being who dislikes and is prejudiced against women. .

"Technology companies wield the kind of power once only enjoyed by governments, and for private profit rather than public good," summarises one journalist.

But not everyone agrees that regulation is the key to solving this problem. Instead of regulating AI, we should make it less powerful by starving it of our personal information, argue the authors of The Autonomous Revolution¹.

Others take the opposite approach. AI should not be regulated or banned, but allowed to continue developing unimpeded. The UK government is considering removing restrictions² on robots.

Many researchers say AI's abilities are overhyped. The holy grail of Artificial General IntelligenceThe hypothetical ability of AI to learn or understand any task that a human can.  is still decades away - at least. Introducing red tapeOfficial rules and processes that are unnecessary and delay results. now would destroy crucial innovation in an industry still in its infancy.

Do we need an AI bill of rights?