Google scraps artificial intelligence ‘ethics board’ days after it was formed
- Online group complained about views of the boards members and whether it could be influenced by the defence industry
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Google on Thursday confirmed it disbanded a recently assembled artificial intelligence ethics advisory panel due to controversy over its membership.
The end of the Advanced Technology External Advisory Council (ATEAC) came just days after a group of Google employees launched a public campaign against having the president of conservative think tank Heritage Foundation among its members.
Another member of the board had already resigned and the inclusion of a drone company executive rekindled concerns about potential military uses of artificial intelligence, according to Vox news website, which first reported the council being disbanded.
“It’s become clear that in the current environment, ATEAC can’t function as we wanted,” Google said. “So we’re ending the council and going back to the drawing board.”
The company said it would seek alternative ways to gather outside input regarding responsible use of artificial intelligence.
A petition published online called on Google to remove Heritage Foundation’s Kay Coles James from the council formed a week ago, due to her history of being “vocally anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ and anti-immigrant”.
“In selecting James, Google is making clear that its version of ‘ethics’ values proximity to power over the well-being of trans people, other LGBTQ people and immigrants,” said a statement posted on Medium by a group identifying itself as Googlers Against Transphobia.
Positions expressed by James contradict Google’s values and, if infused into artificial intelligence, could build discrimination into super-smart machines, the post insisted.
By Thursday night, an online petition had been signed by hundreds of academics, Google employees and others.
The controversy came as the world grapples with balancing the perceived benefits of artificial intelligence with the risk that it could be used against people or even turn on its creators.
Google chief Sundar Pichai said last year tech companies building AI should include ethics early in the process to make certain artificial intelligence does not hurt people.
The California-based internet giant is a leader in the development of AI, competing in the smart software race with firms such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft.
Last year, Google published a set of internal AI principles, the first being that AI should benefit society.
Google vowed not to design or deploy AI for use in weapons, surveillance outside international norms or in technology aimed at violating human rights.
The company said it would still work with the military or governments in areas such as cybersecurity, training, recruitment, health care and search-and-rescue.
AI is already used to recognise people in photos, filter unwanted content from online platforms and allow cars to drive themselves.
