Tech Embraces Ethics: A Borgias Play?
March 27, 2020
It looks like the tech industry is taking the concept of ethical AI seriously—or at least that is the optic a pair of the largest players seems to be going for. ITProPortal reports, “Vatican Teams Up with IBM and Microsoft on AI Ethics.” Will this solve problems like biased algorithms? I would not hold my breath. But I suppose bringing the Pope on board implies the industry is taking the matter Very Seriously. Writer Joel Khalili tells us:
“Executives from the two tech giants met senior officials from the Roman Catholic Church and signed a document entitled the Rome Call for Ethics, which calls for collaboration on ‘human-centered’ AI models.
Microsoft President Brad Smith, IBM Executive Vice President John Kelly and President of the Pontifical Academy for Life Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia were all signatories. According to the BBC, the initiative is designed to ensure humans are placed at the heart of new technologies. The document calls for AI models to be crafted with ‘our common and shared home and its human inhabitants’ in mind.”
Though Pope Francis bowed out of the conference due to illness, he did release an official statement:
“There is a political dimension to the production and use of artificial intelligence…In other words, it is not enough simply to trust in the moral sense of researchers and developers of devices and algorithms. The ethical development of algorithms can be a bridge enabling [a clear ethical framework] to enter concretely into digital technologies through an effective cross-disciplinary dialogue.”
Saying they hope to launch a fresh conversation on ethics in tech, Microsoft and IBM have urged other companies to join them in this initiative. Yep, ethics.
Cynthia Murrell, March 27, 2020
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