Essential Ethics for Artificial Intelligence
By Garnet Smith
From the Matrix to the Terminator, Hollywood has shown us countless examples of artificial intelligence (AI) taking over and rebelling against organized society. However, do the real dangers of artificial intelligence differ from the fictional rebellion we have seen in the media? While the potential dangers of artificial intelligence are indeed decades away, advancement in AI technologies are bringing us closer to these actual threats. The Merriam Webster definition of artificial intelligence is, “an area of computer science that deals with giving machines the ability to seem like they have human intelligence.” Countless services that we use daily are artificial intelligence, including virtual personal assistants like Siri, credit card fraud detection, automated customer support, and media recommendations. AI developers are actively working to make dramatic improvements in computer vision, natural language processing, and robotic motion systems.
The Partnership on artificial intelligence to Benefit People and Society (POAI) is a non-profit collaborative organization including representatives from huge tech companies. Aptly enough, the organization was named by a robot. The group consists of Amazon, DeepMind, Google, Facebook, IBM, and Microsoft, all leaders in AI technologies. The nonprofit plans to continually research AI as it advances, to create regulation for the future of AI development. They believe artificial intelligence holds great promise of raising the quality of people's lives. This role will ensure AI can safely fulfill their individual purposes.
The Enderle Group is a marketing consultancy devoted to providing perspective for today’s technological leaders."The partnership should provide more rigor and initial standardization, particularly around safety protocols, definitions and certifications,” explains Rob Enderle, a key technological analyzer at the Enderle Group. Partnership on AI has released a set of eight tenets which are outlined in the following values: Researching and providing an open platform for ethics and new advancements of AI to be discussed in the community. Address concerns and possible challenges from the international community while protecting the privacy of individuals. Strive to create a culture of open trust and cooperation among AI developers worldwide by supporting the best practices for AI creation.
Two huge AI contributing companies are notably missing from the non-profit. Apple and Elon Musk have pioneered research and AI tech across several platforms. Eric Horvitz, the managing director at Microsoft Research explains "We’ve been in discussions with Apple and they're enthusiastic about the effort. I personally hope to see them join.” Apple has been focusing on product development and have a culture of secrecy throughout the company, which hinders collaboration. As for Elon Musk, he is already diligently sponsoring another AI research company called OpenAI. POAI wishes to include even more government officials and other tech companies to ensure AI’s development is safe and transparent to the public.
Artificially intelligent systems have already experienced many problems and glitches in their respective functions. This year the first international beauty contest judged by an algorithm was held this year. The Beauty.AI system determines the faces that most resemble ‘perfect human beauty.’ Thousands of people sent a picture of themselves to the newly released AI to identify their attractiveness. Results suggested that the AI believes darker skin is less beautiful. This sparked a huge heated controversy surrounding how algorithms can perpetuate bias and yield offensive results because of it.
Partnership on AI will encounter several challenges that will need to be addressed quickly to remain a driving force for standardization of AI. Through this continual growth and change, the group will be able to establish new standards for AI while eliminating bias and harmful assumption from society. This surfaces the idea that POAI has no authority over the development of AI and therefore unethical practices can only be discouraged and not stopped. Even though the organization wishes to create moderation for AI development, they cannot enforce these policies. It is the choice of AI developers to follow their code of ethics, however in the near future this may become a moral obligation for companies.
AI we use on a daily basis isn't innately destructive, the human providing commands is the real danger surrounding AI. There are two real ways AI can be developed and used for dangerous purposes. AI programmed as autonomous weapons with the purpose of killing and devastating pose real threats to people globally. Weapons of mass destruction implanted with artificial intelligence could cause massive war outbreaks and mass casualties in the wrong hands. AI that are developed for a set purpose but become dangerous and destructive are also possible AI threats. Take for example a self driving car that malfunctions and does damage to people and property while carrying out its purpose. POAI isn't looking to regulate what AI can do, rather who uses AI for dangerous and destructive purposes. They are attempting to prove that AI production does not need government regulation. This role will be incremental in ensuring that AI stays safe and can continue to fulfill its purpose of bettering life for people globally.
By Garnet Smith
From the Matrix to the Terminator, Hollywood has shown us countless examples of artificial intelligence (AI) taking over and rebelling against organized society. However, do the real dangers of artificial intelligence differ from the fictional rebellion we have seen in the media? While the potential dangers of artificial intelligence are indeed decades away, advancement in AI technologies are bringing us closer to these actual threats. The Merriam Webster definition of artificial intelligence is, “an area of computer science that deals with giving machines the ability to seem like they have human intelligence.” Countless services that we use daily are artificial intelligence, including virtual personal assistants like Siri, credit card fraud detection, automated customer support, and media recommendations. AI developers are actively working to make dramatic improvements in computer vision, natural language processing, and robotic motion systems.
The Partnership on artificial intelligence to Benefit People and Society (POAI) is a non-profit collaborative organization including representatives from huge tech companies. Aptly enough, the organization was named by a robot. The group consists of Amazon, DeepMind, Google, Facebook, IBM, and Microsoft, all leaders in AI technologies. The nonprofit plans to continually research AI as it advances, to create regulation for the future of AI development. They believe artificial intelligence holds great promise of raising the quality of people's lives. This role will ensure AI can safely fulfill their individual purposes.
The Enderle Group is a marketing consultancy devoted to providing perspective for today’s technological leaders."The partnership should provide more rigor and initial standardization, particularly around safety protocols, definitions and certifications,” explains Rob Enderle, a key technological analyzer at the Enderle Group. Partnership on AI has released a set of eight tenets which are outlined in the following values: Researching and providing an open platform for ethics and new advancements of AI to be discussed in the community. Address concerns and possible challenges from the international community while protecting the privacy of individuals. Strive to create a culture of open trust and cooperation among AI developers worldwide by supporting the best practices for AI creation.
Two huge AI contributing companies are notably missing from the non-profit. Apple and Elon Musk have pioneered research and AI tech across several platforms. Eric Horvitz, the managing director at Microsoft Research explains "We’ve been in discussions with Apple and they're enthusiastic about the effort. I personally hope to see them join.” Apple has been focusing on product development and have a culture of secrecy throughout the company, which hinders collaboration. As for Elon Musk, he is already diligently sponsoring another AI research company called OpenAI. POAI wishes to include even more government officials and other tech companies to ensure AI’s development is safe and transparent to the public.
Artificially intelligent systems have already experienced many problems and glitches in their respective functions. This year the first international beauty contest judged by an algorithm was held this year. The Beauty.AI system determines the faces that most resemble ‘perfect human beauty.’ Thousands of people sent a picture of themselves to the newly released AI to identify their attractiveness. Results suggested that the AI believes darker skin is less beautiful. This sparked a huge heated controversy surrounding how algorithms can perpetuate bias and yield offensive results because of it.
Partnership on AI will encounter several challenges that will need to be addressed quickly to remain a driving force for standardization of AI. Through this continual growth and change, the group will be able to establish new standards for AI while eliminating bias and harmful assumption from society. This surfaces the idea that POAI has no authority over the development of AI and therefore unethical practices can only be discouraged and not stopped. Even though the organization wishes to create moderation for AI development, they cannot enforce these policies. It is the choice of AI developers to follow their code of ethics, however in the near future this may become a moral obligation for companies.
AI we use on a daily basis isn't innately destructive, the human providing commands is the real danger surrounding AI. There are two real ways AI can be developed and used for dangerous purposes. AI programmed as autonomous weapons with the purpose of killing and devastating pose real threats to people globally. Weapons of mass destruction implanted with artificial intelligence could cause massive war outbreaks and mass casualties in the wrong hands. AI that are developed for a set purpose but become dangerous and destructive are also possible AI threats. Take for example a self driving car that malfunctions and does damage to people and property while carrying out its purpose. POAI isn't looking to regulate what AI can do, rather who uses AI for dangerous and destructive purposes. They are attempting to prove that AI production does not need government regulation. This role will be incremental in ensuring that AI stays safe and can continue to fulfill its purpose of bettering life for people globally.