Tech companies are beginning to accept that the artificial intelligence they’re building their futures on could be flawed. From studies showing that language-processing AI can be sexist to more recent research on facial recognition’s failures on darker skin tones, years of research have erupted into a flurry of actions from Microsoft, IBM, Google, Mozilla, Accenture, and even Congress.
It’s difficult to pin a reason on “why now?” It could be the unexpected speed at which AI has become pervasive on tech platforms and in the real world, with demos of the disconcertingly-human-sounding Google Duplex and Amazon’s cashier-less Go store, where customers walk in, grab what they want, and walk out, with the entire affair monitored and recorded by cameras and computers. Or maybe it’s how big tech companies are suddenly seen as complicit in invasive national security projects with the US Department of Defense or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, contributing to the perception of a creeping police state. Or maybe the world is just becoming more tech-literate and conscious.
A case of too little too late? To read more, click here.