NYU educators Juliette Powell and Art Kleiner have released a book titled The AI Dilemma: 7 Principles for Responsible Technology. The book provides a useful point of understanding for what is happening in the digital age relating to artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The misuse of AI has led to wrongful arrests, denial of medical care, even genocide. The new book offers seven key principles that business can use now to end the harm. As the book explains, AI is beneficial in the right hands and dangerous in the wrong.
With the authors, Juliette Powell is an author, a television creator with 9,000 live shows under her belt, and she is a technologist and sociologist. She is also a commentator on Bloomberg TV/ Business News Networks and a speaker at conferences organized by the Economist and the International Finance Corporation.
Art Kleiner is a writer, editor and futurist. His books include The Age of Heretics, Who Really Matters, Privilege and Success, and The Wise. He was editor of strategy+business, the magazine published by PwC.
AI holds incredible promise to improve virtually every aspect of our lives, but society cannot ignore its risks, mishaps and misuses. Powell and Kleiner offer seven principles for ensuring that machine learning supports human flourishing. They draw on Powell’s research at Columbia University and use a wealth of real-world examples.
Four principles relate to AI systems themselves. First, human risk must be rigorously determined and consciously included in any design process. Second, AI systems must be understandable and transparent to any observer, not just the engineers working on them. The third principle is that people must be allowed to protect and manage their personal data. The fourth principle concerns the biases embedded in AI and how these must be confronted and reduced.
The book deals with important philosophical concepts, such as how to become more aware of control and the illusion of control granted by automated systems.
The final three principles pertain to the organizations that create AI systems. Here it is argued there must be procedures in place to hold them accountable for negative consequences. This extends to five steps businesses can take to build AI accountability. In addition, the book outlines three things for teams to consider in developing or using systems that generate texts, images, or other content in the age of misinformation.
Furthermore, organizations need to be loosely structured so that problems in one area can be isolated and resolved before they spread and sabotage the whole system. Finally, there must be psychological safety and creative friction, so that anyone involved in software development can bring problems to light without fear of reprisal.
In the book, Powell and Kleiner explore how to implement each principle, citing current best practices, promising new developments, and sobering cautionary tales. Incorporating the perspectives of engineers, businesspeople, government officials, and social activists, this book will help us realize the unprecedented benefits and opportunities AI systems can provide.
