Almost everything today leading up to this very moment as you read this blog is a classic example of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at work. Navigating your way to work looking for the shortest route possible, or taking an Uber, ordering your food online, surfing online to landing on this page. These are the simpler instances while on the other hand, you have self-driven cars, Siri, Alexa, Cortana and now, Sophia!
AI has, no doubt, made life easy but the organizations and businesses involved in the creation and advancement of AI have been feeling the risks that it poses as well. Elon Musk, known for pioneering the highly automated Tesla, has often reiterated how the use of AI needs to be reigned in. Similarly, Google has also come up with certain AI principles to develop responsible practices while dealing with AI. In fact, more recently, a study has revealed that the increasing need to be more accountable with the use of AI is being realized making other business leaders implement better measures for the same.
What is this study about?
The study was conducted by SAS in collaboration with Forbes Insight, Accenture Applied Sciences, and Intel. More than 300 executives working with leading companies from around the world that are AI focused were surveyed including the chief information officers, chief technology offers, and chief analytics officers of those companies.
The study titled “AI Momentum, Maturity and Models for Success”, observed that of all the companies surveyed, 92 percent of those with a “successful” or “highly successful” deployment rate reportedly trained their technologists in ethical use and development of AI. Apart from this, almost 63 percent also had an ethics committee in place that is responsible for overseeing the use of AI. Furthermore, the report emphasized how AI has become an integral part of people’s lives directly impacting them. Therefore, underlining the need for a system to be in place for keeping a tab on the ethical use of AI.
Rumman Chowdhury, the Responsible AI Lead at Accenture Applied Intelligence while discussing the report, said, “Organizations have begun addressing concerns and aberrations that AI has been known to cause, such as biased and unfair treatment of people”. She further added, “These are positive steps; however, organizations need to move beyond directional AI ethics codes that are in the spirit of the Hippocratic Oath to ‘do no harm’.” AI can lead to undesirable consequences that can pose as a problem to people, “businesses”, and “society”. So, she emphasized the need to develop “secure”, “transparent”, “explainable” and “accountable” AI systems.
