This isn't as simple as it seems because a supposed job requirement, while superficially neutral, may be unnecessary. For example, police departments used to have height requirements. But height requirements discriminate against women. Do you need to be tall to be a police officer? Maybe it's really about projecting authority? Okay, how do you measure that?
Making job requirements neutral is a rather fuzzy area. What is the job really about? Who decides?
Any variable that's not independent of gender can be used to (imperfectly) detect gender. It may not be easy to figure out if machine learning is using it for something real or just as a substitute gender-detector. Randomizing gender while leaving everything else the same isn't going to detect this.
How can the manufacturer comply, if they don't understand why the AI makes that decision, and how to change its decision-making process? This isn't just about accountability, it's also about the manufacturers' inability to control the behavior of a black-box AI system.
If the manufacturer explains to the judge that they don't really know what's going on inside the AI, the judge won't be inclined to cut them a break.
> "In particular, machine minds that cannot explain themselves, or whose detailed operation is beyond the realm of human language, pose a problem for criminal law."
It doesn't says that the AI is NOT useful, but that it can't be used for the liability that it creates.
> "Dr Datta feeds the system under test a range of input data and examines its output for dodgy, potentially harmful or discriminatory results." ... " If the randomisation of sex produces no change in the number of women offered jobs by the AI, but randomising weightlifting ability increases it (because some women now appear to have “male”abilities to lift weights), then it is clear that weightlifting ability itself, not an applicant’s sex, is affecting the hiring process."
This is the most interesting part of the article. As it shows that it's possible to test the system for unlawful decisions without actually understanding how it thinks.