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posted by chromas on Tuesday March 05 2019, @07:07AM   Printer-friendly
from the open-the-pod-bay-doors-HAL dept.

Is Ethical A.I. Even Possible?

When a news article revealed that Clarifai was working with the Pentagon and some employees questioned the ethics of building artificial intelligence that analyzed video captured by drones, the company said the project would save the lives of civilians and soldiers.

"Clarifai's mission is to accelerate the progress of humanity with continually improving A.I.," read a blog post from Matt Zeiler, the company's founder and chief executive, and a prominent A.I. researcher. Later, in a news media interview, Mr. Zeiler announced a new management position that would ensure all company projects were ethically sound.

As activists, researchers, and journalists voice concerns over the rise of artificial intelligence, warning against biased, deceptive and malicious applications, the companies building this technology are responding. From tech giants like Google and Microsoft to scrappy A.I. start-ups, many are creating corporate principles meant to ensure their systems are designed and deployed in an ethical way. Some set up ethics officers or review boards to oversee these principles.

But tensions continue to rise as some question whether these promises will ultimately be kept. Companies can change course. Idealism can bow to financial pressure. Some activists — and even some companies — are beginning to argue that the only way to ensure ethical practices is through government regulation.

"We don't want to see a commercial race to the bottom," Brad Smith, Microsoft's president and chief legal officer, said at the New Work Summit in Half Moon Bay, Calif., hosted last week by The New York Times. "Law is needed."

Possible != Probable. And the "needed law" could come in the form of a ban and/or surveillance of coding and hardware-building activities.

Related:


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 05 2019, @04:52PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 05 2019, @04:52PM (#810303)

    That should be "=". More coffee is clearly required...

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 05 2019, @04:54PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 05 2019, @04:54PM (#810305)

    "less-than-or-equal-to" stop eating my arrow please.

    • (Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Wednesday March 06 2019, @04:17AM

      by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Wednesday March 06 2019, @04:17AM (#810565)

      \\\\
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      An extra one for you.....

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      Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday March 06 2019, @12:35PM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday March 06 2019, @12:35PM (#810680) Homepage Journal

    I can't decide if this is Redundant or Informative.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.