AI Alliance to "Benefit People and Society". Time to be Inspired

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a fraught term that’s slowly taking on a positive tune but still retains much of the apocalyptic tenor of the 80s (thanks Terminator). Scaremongering does little to portray technology, and AI, as it is: a complicated series of developments and tools that force us to reconsider what it means to be human.

The ambiguity makes it difficult to discern the potential long-term positive or negative repercussions of advances in the tech industry, so when I heard that Facebook, IBM, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft formed the Partnership of Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society to “address opportunities and challenges with AI technologies to benefit people and society,” I was enthusiastic.

The allegiance contains the minds behind IBM’s Watson, Google’s DeepMind, Amazon’s Alexa, Facebook's artificial intelligence features such as facial recognition and News Feed, and many others, collaborating to ensure the responsible development and deployment of cognitive and AI technologies.

The partnership will “conduct research, recommend best practices, and publish research under an open license in areas such as ethics, fairness and inclusivity; transparency, privacy, and interoperability; collaboration between people and AI systems; and the trustworthiness, reliability and robustness of technology.” The group will publicize its research and discussions for the benefit of open discourse.

Conspiracy theorists and skeptics abound, questioning agendas, pointing to self-interest, and wondering about the absence of Apple and Tesla from the alliance. Apple has idiosyncratically preached independence, mirroring the reticence of its creator. Although they pioneered commercial AI with Siri, there is an enormous question mark around their research projects.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, on the other hand, is more vocal about his research and his commitment to AI advancements where profit making is secondary. Musk has also intoned trepidations about the future of AI, raising awareness respecting the weaponization of AI by profit-seeking AI warmongers. His concern stems from the impersonality of AI, the belief that going to war is easier when robots are doing the fighting.

Maybe Hollywood has made us paranoid about a dystopian future dominated by killer robots? But, these scenarios serve the allegorical purpose of cautioning us. Powerful technology demands great responsibility. IBM is clearly aware of our apprehensions. Recently they published a research paper entitled, “Learning to trust artificial intelligence systems,” hinting at our future filled with robotics, augmented reality, and personal assistants. 

The initiative's solid lineup appears to be saying the right things. However, mainstream audiences that have just seen the new Edward Snowden movie will be more than a little weary about trusting large tech companies who have a bad reputation around privacy issues. Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking were quickly accused of ‘alarmism’ after raising concerns about artificial intelligence by a US think tank. But, who is right?

In truth, AI is already here and basic versions of AI are engrained into our lives with digital assistants such as Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Microsoft's Cortana. IBM Watson destroys Jeopardy champions with ease and Google DeepMind famously beats humans at the complex Chinese game Go.

With the stakes being incredibly high, there is a strong argument that a third party authority or watchdog should oversee any proceedings. There is no doubt that a future James Bond villain will be using AI as a weapon. Doomsday scenarios will continue to be reported as fact, but should we be more hopeful that technology can help us progress as a human race?

Does the prospect of Amazon, Facebook, Google, IBM and Microsoft joining forces excite or concern you? And why?