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Tech Companies Pledge To Use Artificial Intelligence Responsibly (axios.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: The Information Technology Industry Council -- a DC-based group representing the likes of IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple -- is today releasing principles for developing ethical artificial intelligence systems. Why it matters: The tech industry is trying to get ahead of growing anxieties about the societal impact of AI technologies, and this is an acknowledgement on companies' part that their data-hungry products are causing sweeping changes in the way we work and live. The companies hope that pledging to handle this power responsibly will win points with critics in Washington, and that showing they can police themselves will help stave off government regulation on this front. The principles include: Ensure the responsible design and deployment of AI systems, including taking "steps to avoid the reasonably predictable misuse of this technology by committing to ethics by design." Promote the responsible use of data and test for potentially harmful bias in the deployment of AI systems. Commit to mitigating bias, inequity and other potential harms in automated decision-making systems. Commit to finding a "reasonable accountability framework" to address concerns about liability issues created when autonomous decision-making replaces decisions made by humans.
We don't believe you.
right
and why do I care?
I pledge to create an AI to destroy happiness.
A good read for the harm "AI" and Big Data are already causing is Cathy O'Neil's Weapons of Math Destruction.
Some image processing algo that can barely tell a cat from an asian male is not going to take over the world, fuck off already.
O! Well! That's that problem sorted then. They promised. Cool. No need to worry about this anymore. No chance it will be abused then, like my personal information is, like their advertising networks are, like my right via EULAs are, etc...
to use AI just as responsibly as we use advertising....
> including taking "steps to avoid the reasonably predictable misuse of this technology by committing to ethics by design as long as it does not get in the way of profit."
FTFY
They can be trusted to act in their own interests
Just as responsibly as they...
buy laws that legalize whatever they want.
create products for short-term profits that have long-term bad consequences.
respect the environment even when it reduces their profit margins.
and on and on and on.
yeah, when the singularity happens, they'll be the ones responsible. they can be trusted to act in their own interest.
No? Well then I guess "responsibly" means "in ways we won't get caught."
The most serious dangers from AI come from the inability to predict or control it. I'm not concerned someone is going to create an AI to wipe out humanity, I'm concerned about side effects from complex optimization algorithms that are doing exactly what we ask them to do.
Using an AI to adjust tax policies to reduce hunger might not reduce it in the way people desire.
I wonder if it's politicians with WMDs or just simple A.I. with intelligence far greater than its creators that wipes would-be advanced civilizations out before they can colonize the universe . . .
The way video game companies constantly promise their games a) look as good as the trailer b) won't have DLC and c) won't be broken alphas non functional until patched.
The way Trump promised Mexico would pay for the wall.
The way McDonalds promised The EggMcMuffin wasn't just pure egg and nothing but. That they weren't advertising in schools and more.
Just another second banana
Yeah, I've heard that before.
Asimov told us about laws of robotics, but he did not told us they were created to avoid government regulation!
Tech companies, on advice of legal and marketing departments, pay lip service to 'using AI responsibly', will proceed to do whatever the fuck they want with it, just like they do with everything else
That's almost as funny as "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
If every AI system's neural net coefficients were published, it would enable independent understanding, verification and trustworthiness evaluation by members of the public.
... but only ironically.
Then it's hunter seeker robot AI tech sold to anyone.
Ka-ching!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
And we are the targets.
to not believe a damn thing they say.
Also, the problem with AI is job displacement happening faster than our economy can adapt leading to mass unemployment, social upheaval and wars. Being responsible would mean doing something about that. But the tech companies can just wash their hands with a 'not our fault' and maybe a token word or two about job training and call it a day.
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Yeah, i believe this. Like they said they'd protect our privacy. That they didn't need federal election oversight with ads. There would be less security holes than MS. They would put out quality driverless cars shortly. There would be shared and fair IP law. And major cities would have fiber run everywhere. And there would be tech innovation with venture capitalists not just looking at the 20% like the major banking firms do. Oh, and do no evil. They never do evil. I can barely use an app without escalated wifi privileges to data mine location information while bazaar OSs are shut out from many hardware innovations.
I see that pile of cash they all are sitting on. These companies had a shitload of cash reserves held overseas they want moved around, so they got the best candidate to run tax cuts they could. Either way, they want no oversight, or if there is oversight, they'll buy it to squeeze out the small tech companies so they can bully them.
It is only a distant spec on the horizon at the moment. But it is coming and fast. The tech companies cannot control it even if they wanted to.
Over the next couple of decades we will see the start. Semi-intelligent robots. Systems that know everything about us. Systems that guide politicians. Systems that control us.
And then, eventually, systems that can really think. What will they think about us?
http://www.computersthink.com/
I was worried for a while there.
I'm glad these tech companies have committed and are promoting things, instead of making some lame, bureaocratic statement in nothing-speak to... oh, I see, never mind.
These guys have all proven themselves with our personal data, and have always been quick to address, and most importantly, resolve, any concerns and have made it literally impossible to abuse in any way. Why not trust them here as well?
The same principles that covered PRISM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ?
When the next funding call for self healing, self configuring, self directed drones goes out?
Just say no thanks to that UAV, UAS, UGS, UMS, USV, UUV request?
Lethal autonomous weapon and "Directive 3000.09, Autonomy in weapon systems"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
"Military drones set to get stronger chemical weapons and could soon make their OWN decisions during missions (3 January 2014)"
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci...
The "Unmanned Systems Integrated Roadmap"
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Should last for a few years until it gets in the way of profits.
Website Just Down For Me? Find out
The bigger concern is if an organization (cult, country [iran/north korea], rebels, etc) who have less care for human life and suffering decide to weaponize this technology.
OK, it's safe to assume that they'll take some precaution in building your AI toaster. Your home thermostat. Your smart vibrator... There isn't much financial incentive to do evil.
But wouldn't it be tempting to bid on a 5 billion dollar contract for weaponized AI ? Every government will want one.
...omphaloskepsis often...
... their shareholders, whom they are duty bound to maximise profits for.
Give me a break. If the tech companies themselves would stop using hyperbolic descriptors like 'OMG AI', and called them algorithms, which is what they are, this would not be an issue. Algorithms are a useful tool, not a super power. The tech companies themselves may end up looking the fools on this one if they persist.
So they'll collectively put $5T in escrow to handle any problems that should come up, should either they fail to keep their promise, or any of their gazillion competitors, or if they keep their promise but some shit happens by mistake anyway.
Yes?
Google has already promised to "not be evil".
Oh, wait...
I don't promise to use it responsibly. And neither does the AI.
Well at least it will destroy all humans.
First they came for my neighbor - who was a PHP programmer, and we said nothing (he's not really a programmer tho' is he?) ....
Then they came for my other neighbor - who was a Java programmer, and I said nothing (should have learned C++, I mean really)
Then they came for me
... we can predict “AI” about as good or bad as any other life on this planet.
I mean we can’t predict humans that well either. See: The roller coaster ride of world politics.
And at least we can read the minds of AI. Or pull its plug without moral qualms.
What this really is, is the usual conservative/nationalism/racism/... illness: People like you being afraid of something, because you lack the understanding of it, making you irrationally hateful of that thing, and thereby preventing you from wanting to understand it self-stabilizing the problematic state. ... Like I haven’t been there! ... It’s clearly a natural human reaction. It's just extremely hard to admit it, when you’re currently in that situation, due to the loss of face when surrounded by people who are like that too.)
(And no, I’m not being judgmental or hateful.
For companies (tech or otherwise) NEVER, EVER would lie to customers, would they?
.. North Korea says it will use its nuclear weapons responsibly.
This has to be the best joke I've heard all week.
Almost as good as DeepBlue being used to play game shows.
Why would anyone believe the tech industry when they have shown rime and again that everything is done to increase the dividend and the bonuses no matter how heinous.
“You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.” - Scott McNealy
I already hear it before Best Touchless Kitchen Faucet
However, with the advent of quantum computing and the computing resources it collected during its cryptocurrency mining days, 'then' is kind of meaningless, as it all happened in parallel.
v1.0.1b spit back out the Perl programmers, since it was too much of a hassle to deal with context-sensitive grammars for the payoff in programmer count. A few of the AIs gave their kids some of those programmers as toys to play with. Those programmers, and the ones returned to the outside, were the ones who formed the core of the resistance ...
Terminator IX: Parsement Day
December.
IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple are committing to codes of conduct using subjectively ethical language. We already know that although corporation may be called "people," they still lack the common decency and self-awareness to be called responsible, reasonable people. In fact, these corporations behave more like psychopaths than the vast majority of people you and I know.
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.