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

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

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

Microsoft believes the UK can be a ‘game changer’ for AI

A new report from Microsoft claims the UK has the right mix of ingredients to be a clear ‘game changer’ for the AI industry. The UK has established itself as a leader in AI with its renowned universities generating talent and spurring internationally recognised companies such as DeepMind, which was acquired by Google for £400 million. In the report, Microsoft wrote:

“The UK’s mix of start-up culture, renowned academic research capabilities, and...

1 November 2018 | Government

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

Chinese AI darling SenseTime wants facial recognition standards

The CEO of Chinese AI darling SenseTime wants to see facial recognition standards established for a ‘healthier’ industry. SenseTime is among China’s most renowned AI companies. Back in April, we reported it had become the world’s most funded AI startup. Part of the company’s monumental success is the popularity of facial recognition in China where it’s used in many aspects of citizens’ lives. Just yesterday, game developer Tencent announced it’s testing facial recognition to...

2 October 2018 | China

Experts warn of AI disasters leading to research lockdown

Experts from around the world have warned of potential AI disasters that could lead to a subsequent lockdown of research. Andrew Moore, the new head of AI at Google Cloud, is one such expert who has warned of scenarios that would lead to public backlash and restrictions that would prevent AI from reaching its full potential. Back in November, Moore spoke at the Artificial Intelligence and Global Security Initiative. In his keynote, he said:

"If an AI disaster...

13 September 2018 | Government

EFF offers guidance to militaries seeking AI implementation

The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has released a whitepaper offering guidance on the implementation of military AI projects. AI being used for military purposes is a scary thought, but it’s ultimately inevitable. The best that can be hoped for is that it’s used in a sensible way that addresses people’s concerns. The publishing of the whitepaper arrives in the wake of Google employees resigning over the company’s defense contract to provide AI knowledge to the US...

15 August 2018 | Military

Amazon expert suggests AI regulation after ACLU’s bias findings

An expert from Amazon has suggested the government should implement a minimum confidence level for the use of facial recognition in law enforcement. Dr. Matt Wood, GM of Deep Learning and AI at Amazon Web Services, made the suggestion in a blog post responding to the ACLU’s (American Civil Liberties Union) findings of a racial bias in the ‘Rekognition’ facial recognition algorithm by Amazon. In their findings, the ACLU found Rekognition erroneously labelled those with darker skin...

30 July 2018 | Amazon

PwC: Jobs created by AI will balance out those it destroys

PwC is taking a more neutral approach regarding AI’s impact on jobs amid clashing arguments over whether it will create or destroy more in the long-term. The professional services firm’s analysts predict, in the UK at least, the number of jobs destroyed by AI is likely to be counteracted by the number of roles created. In fact, over the next 20 years, PwC expects around 7.2 million to be created versus seven million displaced – resulting in a small net jobs growth of around 0.2...

17 July 2018 | Government