How Artificial Intelligence For All Helps Increase Accountability To Society Posted on : Oct 23 - 2019

There is no shortage of statistics on the increasing uptake of artificial intelligence (AI) in business. With adoption poised to grow over the next few years, this will undoubtedly lead to the discovery of new use cases and applications of the technology that were never before on the radar of business leaders.

While this anticipated growth is exciting from a technological standpoint, it is also fraught with ethical landmines. As the associate director of the Charlotte Visualization Center at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, I oversee internal and external research on the use of big data in industries such as science, business and medicine, so I'm familiar with the frequent intersection of ethics and AI.

In today's digital age, organizations have access to unprecedented volumes of consumer data — including personally identifiable information (PII), which can range from your name, credit card information and medical records to IP addresses and biometric data such as fingerprints. This information, along with nonsensitive PII such as your birthday or gender, is collected, anonymized, analyzed and, in some cases, sold on a regular basis so that organizations can derive value from it.

AI plays an important role in parsing this data, and as AI tools and technologies move beyond the purview of data scientists and into the hands of business users, it is more important than ever to have a framework for responsible use and accountability of sensitive information. This goes beyond compliance to data privacy laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that outlines the responsible use of medical information or the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for citizens' personal data.

What I'm referring to is the additional transparency and accountability that are foundational to the principle of democratizing AI. When AI is in the hands of only a few powerful entities, whether it's governments or large corporations, there is a lesser likelihood of anyone holding them accountable.

But when organizations that have historically been unable to afford AI tools — such as midmarket companies and nonprofits — get in on the action, they bring with them a different set of perspectives that will enable them to challenge the status quo if necessary. I believe a diverse set of stakeholders must ask questions such as, "Is this really necessary?" or "Do we have consent to use this information for this particular reason?" in order to maintain a system of checks and balances that has, until now, gone largely unchecked.

Recent high-profile scandals involving the use of personal information for unintended purposes have shed light on our vulnerabilities, especially considering fears surrounding the potential misuse of AI. Humans are, after all, the key to unlocking the power of AI. But the companies that use AI responsibly are the ones that leverage it to augment the decision-making process. They understand that AI will simply augment people's abilities and give them all the information to make sound decisions, not replace them altogether.

Rather than taking a top-down approach, democratizing AI strengthens transparency and increases accountability to society as a whole. While we can never fully eliminate concerns that AI will be used for purposes it was not originally intended for, we can certainly alleviate them.

Redressing the balance of power that comes with unfettered access to AI is something we all stand to benefit from. So don't let it scare you — get in there and give it a try. Source