The UK has released new guidelines during the World Economic Forum (WEF) to help governments accelerate the deployment of trusted AI solutions.
AI is proving itself to be an important tool in tackling some of the biggest issues the world faces today; including coronavirus and climate change. However, some public distrust remains.
“The current pandemic has shown us more needs to be done to speed up the adoption of trusted AI around the world,” said Kay Firth-Butterfield, Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at the World Economic Forum.
“We moved from guidelines to practical tools, tested and iterated them – but this is still just a start. Now we will be working to scale them to countries around the world.”
The guidelines released today aim to “help society tackle big data problems faster” while also preparing them for future risks. The UK government adopted the guidelines across its various departments.
“The UK is a global leader in AI and I am pleased we are working with the World Economic Forum and international partners to develop guidelines to ensure its safe and ethical deployment,” said Caroline Dinenage, Digital Minister of the United Kingdom.
“By taking a dynamic approach we can boost innovation, create competitive markets and support public trust in artificial intelligence. I urge public sector organisations around the world to adopt these guidelines and consider carefully how they procure and deploy these technologies.”
For the past year, the WEF has worked alongside the UK’s Office for AI; companies such as Deloitte, Salesforce, and Splunk; 15 other countries; and more than 150 members of government, academia, civil society, and the private sector.
“As a trusted AI advisor to governments around the world, we were thrilled to collaborate with the World Economic Forum and the government of the UK in the development of procurement guidelines that help the public sector put AI at the service of its constituents in a manner that is both efficient and ethical,” said Shelby Austin, Managing Partner, Growth & Investments and Omnia AI, Deloitte, Canada.
“As our societies reorganize and make progress in our fight against COVID-19, the need for multi-stakeholder cooperation has never been more apparent. We believe in these joint efforts, and we believe in the power of data-driven decision-making to help our countries recover and thrive.”
The result of the joint effort was the “Procurement in a Box” toolkit which provides guidance from conducting drafting proposals and conducting risk assessments, all the way to purchasing AI solutions and deploying them in a trusted manner.
A proposal for a chatbot allowing executives for the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) to obtain answers to data-related questions was used to test the guidelines. DEWA’s chatbot was successful and serves as an early example of how rapid but safe AI deployments can be achieved using the guidelines.
“In an era that will continue to be dominated by the transformative technologies emerging from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, integrating AI into the public sector for everyday use will significantly elevate the performance of government departments,” said Khalfan Belhoul, CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation, the host entity of Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution UAE.
You can find a copy of the Procurement in a Box toolkit here (PDF)
(Photo by Franck V. on Unsplash)
