Senate Bill 10 (SB 10) seeks to use artificial intelligence (AI) to determine whether someone is eligible to be released from custody, thus ending the cash bail system currently in place in California. However, the AI process is flawed because it mimics human bias.
In 2016, Microsoft launched an artificial intelligence chatbot named Tay, and within just 24 hours it was sending out racist and lewd tweets. Tay was designed to interact with human users, and that backfired. AI mimics human behavior, which is inherently flawed. It is trained by the humans it interacts with.
Like Tay, how long will it take for the computer algorithms that determine bail and release to become racially biased? And how will we know when they do?
By the time we realize there’s a problem, it may be too late, and too many lives would have been affected by its faulty decision-making process. The stakes are too high and there are too many variables at play.
For example, in San Bernardino County, a felon with a firearm faces a $100,000 bail amount. In Riverside County, for that same serious charge, bail is $3,500. Such discrepancies emphasize the challenges of creating a fair, consistent bail system. SB 10, while aiming to standardize and streamline the process, may inadvertently perpetuate these disparities if AI systems are not carefully—and transparently—regulated.
The bail system could use a semblance of continuity, not huge inconsistency from county to county.
The Human Element in Bail & Bail Bonds
Despite the push for technological solutions, the human aspect of the bail process remains crucial, and bail bondsmen play a vital role. When someone gets arrested, they stop being a human being to everyone except their loved ones. Dan’s primary goal as a licensed California bail bond agent is to help people who are going through tough times. He listens to the whole story and puts the pieces of the puzzle together. He knows there is so much more than a police report.
Dan’s Bail Bonds has been helping people in Los Angeles, Van Nuys, Rancho Cucamonga, Banning, and all of Southern California get through the tough experience of being arrested since 2000. Dan has helped thousands of families. Any time, day or night, you can trust Dan’s Bail Bonds to provide personal support and the human touch that makes all the difference.
Need to post bail in California? Call Dan at (888) 773-8037.