A group of tech titans, including Amazon.com and Microsoft, has created a nonprofit that will ponder the impact of artificial intelligence on the world — and perhaps make it seem less threatening to worried observers.
A group of tech titans, including Amazon.com and Microsoft, has created a nonprofit that will ponder the impact of artificial intelligence on the world — and perhaps make it seem less threatening to worried observers.
The group, dubbed “Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society,” also includes Facebook, IBM and Alphabet divisions DeepMind and Google.
The move comes as these technology firms bank on artificial-intelligence applications as the next big thing, even as critics fret about automation’s potential to take jobs away from humans.
The group says it will research best practices for AI applications, as well as make the field’s advantages and challenges better understood by the public.
Most Read Business Stories
“AI technologies hold tremendous potential to improve many aspects of life,” the organization said in a statement. “Through rigorous research, the development of best practices, and an open and transparent dialogue, the founding members of the Partnership on AI hope to maximize this potential and ensure it benefits as many people as possible.”
Each of the five founding companies will have seats on the organization’s board. Amazon’s envoy will be its director of machine learning, Ralf Herbrich. Microsoft’s representative will be Eric Horvitz, who oversees the company’s Redmond research lab and will serve as interim co-chair of the organization along with DeepMind founder Mustafa Suleyman. Other members include Facebook’s Yann LeCun and Francesca Rossi of IBM.
But the board is not yet fully appointed: The partnership aims to open up five seats for members from other fields, including academia, policy, the law and the nonprofit sector.
Researchers with the founding companies had for years been discussing the potential impact of artificial-intelligence innovation on society at workshops and conferences. Earlier this year they engaged in informal talks that led to the foundation of the Partnership on AI.
In addition to developing industry standards, the organization will commission studies, issue reports and serve as a platform for discussion, it says.