OpenAI withholds its latest research fearing societal impact

OpenAI has decided not to publish its latest research fearing its potential misuses and the negative societal impact that would have.

The institute, backed by the likes of Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, developed an AI which can produce convincing ‘fake news’ articles.

Articles produced by the AI writer can be on any subject and merely require a brief prompt before it gets to work unsupervised.

The AI scrapes data from ~8 million webpages and solely looks at...

15 February 2019 | Ethics

Trump’s AI executive order misses something important

President Donald Trump has issued his executive order relating to AI, only it misses something quite important to ensure US leadership.

The executive order titled ‘Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence’ claims to be guided by five principles:

Driving technological breakthroughs.Leading in developing standards while reducing barriers preventing safe AI testing and deployment.Training Americans with AI-related skills.Fostering trust in AI technologies...

13 February 2019 | Government

NHS report suggests AI will give docs more patient time

A report from the NHS suggests the impending technological ‘revolution’ in healthcare will increase the amount of time doctors can spend with patients.

NHS doctors are overburdened; a problem only getting worse from a growing and ageing population, and not enough funding.

The report was led by US academic Eric Topol and calls for a reskilling of NHS staff to harness new digital skills. AI and robotics can reduce the burden on healthcare professionals, but only if...

11 February 2019 | Healthcare

Amazon joins calls to establish facial recognition standards

Amazon has put its weight behind the growing number of calls from companies, individuals, and rights groups to establish facial recognition standards.

Michael Punke, VP of Global Public Policy at Amazon Web Services, said.

"Over the past several months, we've talked to customers, researchers, academics, policymakers, and others to understand how to best balance the benefits of facial recognition with the potential risks.

It's critical that any legislation protect...

8 February 2019 | Amazon

White House will intervene to ensure the US leads in AI, 5G

The US is planning an intervention that will see it play a role in ensuring the country leads in technologies such as AI and 5G.

In an email to The Hill, an official wrote:

"Within the coming weeks, we could expect to see action designed to preserve American [research and development] leadership in artificial intelligence, 5G, and the first deliverables from the National Quantum Initiative Act.”

The ‘National Quantum Initiative Act’ is a law passed by the...

7 February 2019 | Government

Microsoft warns its AI offerings ‘may result in reputational harm’

Microsoft has warned investors that its AI offerings could damage the company’s reputation in a bid to prepare them for the worst.

AI can be unpredictable, and Microsoft already has experience. Back in 2016, a Microsoft chatbot named Tay became a racist, sexist, generally-rather-unsavoury character after internet users took advantage of its machine learning capabilities

The chatbot was covered in media around the world and itself was bound to have caused Microsoft some...

6 February 2019 | Ethics

Facebook pumps $7.5m into an independent AI ethics centre

An independent AI ethics research centre is set to receive $7.5 million of funding courtesy of the folks at Facebook.

The new research centre is called the Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence and was created in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

Facebook, like many companies, is fighting outside concerns about the development of AI and its potential societal impact. The centre should help to ensure Facebook keeps up with ethical best...

21 January 2019 | Ethics

Report: The public is unconvinced AI will benefit humanity

Decades of sci-fi flicks have instilled a fear of AI in some people – with a new report suggesting many remain unconvinced it will benefit humanity.

The report, from the Center for the Governance of AI based at Oxford University, reveals concerns artificial intelligence may harm or endanger humankind. 2,000 US adults were surveyed in 2018 for their views.

Baobao Zhang and Allan Dafoe, authors of the report, wrote in its summary:

“Public sentiments have...

10 January 2019 | Ethics

European AI researchers form group over falling behind fears

A group of European researchers are coming together in a bid to advance AI research over fears the continent will fall behind. The initiative will be called the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) and was launched on 6th December at the Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) meeting in Montreal, Canada. Almost 200 researchers signed an open letter published in April warning AI investment and expertise in Europe is lagging behind the likes of North...

12 December 2018 | Europe

Baidu is the first Chinese firm to join US-led AI supergroup

Chinese search giant Baidu has become the first company from China to join a US-led AI supergroup focused on advancing industry ethics. The group is called PAI (Partnership on AI) and has been formed amid fears about the potential impacts of artificial intelligence. Such concerns include the potential effect on jobs, discrimination, and the potential loss of life when AI us used in a military capacity. PAI consists of more than 70 academic institutes along with civil groups and technology...

17 October 2018 | China