IBM, Microsoft Execs Promote the Ethical Development of AI
Many in the artificial intelligence community have called for ethical guidelines for the burgeoning field, and IBM chief executive Ginni Rometty is the latest to add her voice, which she did at the World Economic Forum in Davos. MIT, Harvard and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman have established a $27 million fund to analyze the impact and implications of AI; the IEEE has proposed ethical guidelines; the Obama administration issued a report on AI’s impact on jobs; and Carnegie Mellon studies the future of AI.
She described three core principles: that IBM’s AI systems will focus on augmented human intelligence rather than replacing humans; that IBM will “detail when and for what purposes its AI will be developed and deployed,” as well as be transparent and protect data; and that “AI deployments need to consider the human side of the equation and help workers and citizens acquire skills needed to use new services.”
The company has also developed software to “protect staff who work in environments surrounded by robots,” and acquired a Montreal-based AI startup, Maluuba, that analyzes written content, “for example sifting through businesses’ documents to find experts in given fields.” Nadella has “reorganized the company’s research arm around AI” and its Azure cloud-computing services and tools already help developers build AI applications.
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