Fear the elephant... not Elon Musk
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time...
That’s exactly what Mustafa Suleyman and the team at DeepMind did this week when they took the first step to address the proverbial elephant in the room: the potential ethical and societal implications of AI.
DeepMind just announced the formation of a new research group called DeepMind Ethics & Society (DMES). This group is made up of dedicated staffers and a number of unpaid external “fellows” including Nick Bostrom, Coyle, and Jeffrey Sachs. Their focus is to tackle the biggest issues in artificial intelligence. This includes any problems with managing AI bias, the coming economic impact of automation, and the need to ensure that any intelligent systems we develop share our ethical and moral values.
This is coming at an important time where the AI community is receiving a lot of blowback given Elon Musk’s recent suggestion that AI is the biggest risk we face as a civilization. While I think much of this is misconstrued, it doesn’t stop the constant barrage of sensational headlines adding to the fear mongering.