Google Launches Global Council To Advise on AI and Tech Ethics (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on Tuesday March 26, 2019 @08:12AM from the marching-forward dept.

Google announced today that it has formed an external advisory group -- dubbed the Advanced Technology External Advisory Council (ATEAC) -- that is tasked with "considering some of the most complex challenges in AI," including facial recognition and fairness in machine learning. From a report: The council, which is slated to publish a report at the end of 2019, includes technology experts, digital ethicists, and people with public policy backgrounds, Kent Walker, Google's senior vice president for global affairs, said at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology conference. The group is meant to provide recommendations for Google and other companies and researchers working in areas such as facial recognition software, a form of automation that has prompted concerns about racial bias and other limitations. "We want to have the most informed and thoughtful conversations we can," Walker said on stage at the MIT Technology Review event in San Francisco. "We want to sit down with the council and see what agenda they want to set."

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Thanks but no thanks by gleasain · 2019-03-26 08:26 · Score: 3, Insightful

Google has demonstrated less than ethical behavior. The last thing I want is them advising me on ethics. As someone else pointed out, this is basically a lobbying group.
(((Powers That Be))) by Anonymous Coward · 2019-03-26 08:29 · Score: 1, Insightful

It's a typical trick that works every time: Set up foundations, councils, duly elected members, special iconography, annual awards ceremonies, and special titles of office. Then, nobody questions your actions; they're obviously official and well thought out.
"Google receives the 2025 Azimov Award for Ethical AI!" will read the headlines.
It's all a show. (((They))) know how to put on a good show.