Google says won’t use AI for weapons

Drones catch boats

SAN FRANCISCO, June 9, (Agencies): Google announced Thursday it would not use artificial intelligence for weapons or to “cause or directly facilitate injury to people,” as it unveiled a set of principles for the technologies.

Chief executive Sundar Pichai, in a blog post outlining the company’s artificial intelligence policies, noted that even though Google won’t use AI for weapons, “we will continue our work with governments and the military in many other areas” such as cybersecurity, training, or search and rescue. The news comes with Google facing an uproar from employees and others over a contract with the US military, which the California tech giant said last week would not be renewed.

Pichai set out seven principles for Google’s application of artificial intelligence, or advanced computing that can simulate intelligent human behavior.

He said Google is using AI “to help people tackle urgent problems” such as prediction of wildfires, helping farmers, diagnosing disease or preventing blindness.

“We recognize that such powerful technology raises equally powerful questions about its use,” Pichai said in the blog.

“How AI is developed and used will have a significant impact on society for many years to come. As a leader in AI, we feel a deep responsibility to get this right.”

The chief executive said Google’s AI programs would be designed for applications that are “socially beneficial” and “avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias.”

He said the principles also called for AI applications to be “built and tested for safety,” to be “accountable to people” and to “incorporate privacy design principles.”

Google will avoid the use of any technologies “that cause or are likely to cause overall harm,” Pichai wrote.

That means steering clear of “weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people” and systems “that gather or use information for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms.”

Pichai

Google also will ban the use of any technologies “whose purpose contravenes widely accepted principles of international law and human rights,” Pichai said.

Some initial reaction to the announcement was positive.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which had led opposition to Google’s Project Maven contract with the Pentagon, called the news “a big win for ethical AI principles.”

“Congratulations to the Googlers and others who have worked hard to persuade the company to cancel its work on Project Maven,” EFF said on Twitter.

Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor and fellow at the Stanford Center for Internet & Society, tweeted, “Google’s AI ethics principles owe more to (English philosopher Jeremy) Bentham and the positivists than (German philosopher) Kant. Nevertheless, a good start.”

Calo added, “The clear statement that they won’t facilitate violence or totalitarian surveillance is meaningful.”

The move comes amid growing concerns that automated or robotic systems could be misused and spin out of control, leading to chaos. At the same time, Google has faced criticism that it has drifted away from its original founders’ motto of “don’t be evil.”

Several technology firms have already agreed to the general principles of using artificial intelligence for good, but Google appeared to offer a more precise set of standards.

The company, which is already a member of the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence including dozens of tech firms committed to AI principles, had faced criticism for the contract with the Pentagon on Project Maven, which uses machine learning and engineering talent to distinguish people and objects in drone videos.

Faced with a petition signed by thousands of employees and criticism outside the company, Google indicated the $10 million contract would not be renewed, according to media reports.

But Google is believed to be competing against other tech giants such as Amazon and Microsoft for lucrative “cloud computing” contracts with the US government, including for military and intelligence agencies.

LONDON:

Technologies

Also:

Drones guided by artificial intelligence to catch boats netting fish where they shouldn’t were among the winners of a marine protection award on Friday and could soon be deployed to fight illegal fishing, organisers said.

The award-winning project aims to help authorities hunt down illegal fishing boats using drones fitted with cameras that can monitor large swathes of water autonomously.

Illegal fishing and overfishing deplete fish stocks worldwide, causing billions of dollars in losses a year and threatening the livelihoods of rural costal communities, according to the United Nations.

The National Geographic Society awarded the project, co-developed by Morocco-based company ATLAN Space, and two other innovations $150,000 each to implement their plans as it marked World Oceans Day on Friday.

The aircraft can cover a range of up to 700 km (435 miles) and use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to drive them in search of fishing vessels, said ATLAN Space’s founder, Badr Idrissi.

“Once (the drone) detects something, it goes there and identifies what it’s seeing,” Idrissi told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

Idrissi said the technology, which is to be piloted in the Seychelles later this year, was more effective than traditional sea patrols and allowed coastguards to save money and time.

From satellites tracking trawlers on the high seas to computer algorithms identifying illegal behaviours, new technologies are increasingly coming to the aid of coastguards worldwide.