Facebook, Google, Amazon, IBM And Microsoft Join Forces On AI Ethics
Facebook and Google joined Amazon, IBM and Microsoft on Wednesday to launch the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society, which will create a standard of ethics surrounding artificial intelligence (AI).
The nonprofit will “advance public understanding” of AI and establish “best practices on the challenges and opportunities within the field.” Each company will have a representative on the group’s 10-member board. Google’s representative will hail from AI unit DeepMind, which recently developed a software that beat the world champion Go player, a major advancement in AI research.
“AI technologies hold tremendous potential to improve many aspects of life, ranging from healthcare, education and manufacturing to home automation and transportation,” the organization said on its website. “Through rigorous research, the development of best practices, and an open and transparent dialogue, the founding members of the Partnership on AI hope to maximize this potential and ensure it benefits as many people as possible.”
The nonprofit will conduct research relating to “ethics, fairness and inclusivity; transparency, privacy, and interoperability; collaboration between people and AI systems; and the trustworthiness, reliability and robustness of the technology,” according to the website. “It does not intend to lobby government or other policy-making bodies.”
The remaining five spots on the board will go to representatives from academia and the nonprofit sector. The partnership is also in talks to work with the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence.
“We’re in a golden age of machine learning and AI,” Ralf Herbrich, the director of machine learning at Amazon, wrote in a statement. “This partnership will ensure we’re including the best and the brightest in this space in the conversation to improve customer trust and benefit society.”
AI startup equity funding reached an all-time high last quarter, with more than $1 billion poured into the sector, according to CB Insights. AI startups have received $7.5 billion in backing since 2011, with more than $6 billion of that invested since 2014.
“The possibilities for positively impacting a global society with advances in AI are numerous, ranging from connectivity, healthcare and transportation,” Yann LeCun, director of Facebook AI research, said in a statement. “By openly collaborating with our peers and sharing findings, we aim to push new boundaries every day, not only within Facebook, but across the entire research community. To do so in partnership with these companies who share our vision will help propel the entire field forward in a thoughtful responsible way.”
Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal, Gina Hall
Photo: Facebook, Google, Amazon, IBM and Microsoft joined Wednesday to launch the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society, which will create a standard of ethics surrounding artificial intelligence (AI). (Razum, Shutterstock)