Balancing AI Ethics & Biases

It is evident that with great power comes great responsibility.  With no doubt it is clear that
this is applicable to AI as it is an extremely powerful tool and many groups are interested in
ensuring its responsible use. Managing AI ethics can be difficult as the operational aspects of
addressing AI ethics are complex. Luckily, such issues are already driving debate and action
in the public and commercial sectors. Various steps as specified below are being taken by
corporate and industrial giants to ensure integrity with AI.

1. Ethical Guidelines
Most of the leading tech giants and vendors developing AI tools and platforms are
working at the forefront of ethical AI development efforts. Organizations like Google and
IBM have developed ethical guidelines to govern the use of AI internally as well as guide
other enterprises.Before  releasing the internal  ethical guidelines, Google took an oath to
not develop AI specifically for weaponry. Various other technology vendors have
launched or open-source tools to address ethical issues such as bias and lack of
transparency in AI development and deployment. Examples include Facebook’s Fairness
Flow, IBM’s AI Fairness 360 and AI OpenScale environment, and Google’s What-if tool.

2. Government Initiatives
Government plays a crucial role in establishing policies and guidelines to tackle AI-
related ethical issues. Regulatory authorities of several countries have started enforcing
guidelines, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires
organizations to be able to explain decisions made by their algorithms. Other countries
like the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Singapore, France, and New
Zealand have also released AI strategies, road maps, or plans for developing ethical
standards, policies, regulations, or frameworks.20. AI ethical councils or task forces are
also set up by  governments to verify the application of ethics in AI.

3. Ethical Creators
Educational institutes play a crucial role in maintaining AI ethics. Universities likeg
Carnegie Mellon and MIT, offer  courses dealing with AI and ethics. MIT has developed
a platform called Moral Machine to crowdsource data and effectively train self-driving
cars to respond to a variety of morally fraught scenarios. 

Updates in technology have numerous benefits and challenges and AI is also the same.
Clever leaders balance the risks and benefits to fulfill their goals with best quality. Even as
they take advantage of AI technology to develop their business, companies should consider
the ethical questions raised by this technology and begin to develop their capacity to leverage
it efficiently and in an ethically responsible way.