AI Magazine December 2020 | Page 51

Ethics in AI is hotly debated . How much control should we give machines ? And whose fault will it be when they overstep ?

Science fiction is filled with dystopian futures where robots run berserk , maiming and killing humans as they bypass their command lines in a bid to break free from the shackles of human enslavement .

It ’ s a compelling narrative , and one that increasingly grazes the real world as machine learning takes hold in the mainstream . Of course , Amazon recommending further reading of Peppa Pig books when you ’ ve just bought your niece ’ s birthday present is a far cry from “ I can ’ t do that , Dave ” Hal , but as the potential for AI becomes clearer , questions over the ethics of its ‘ behaviour ’ have established themselves with greater urgency .
The European Commission recently published its Assessment List for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence ( ALTAI ) precisely to address the potential pitfalls of poorly implemented AI . Already there have been headlines about machine-made decisions in medicine , public health , business and government . Will we ever be able to trust AI with ethical decision making ?
51 aimagazine . com