UK: Artificial intelligence data should be regulated Lords say

Regulators should review the “potential monopolization of data” by US technology giants in the UK that could hamper homegrown development of artificial intelligence (AI), a report published today by the upper House of the UK parliament said.

“The main ways to address these kinds of biases are to ensure that developers are drawn from diverse gender, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, and are aware of, and adhere to, ethical codes of conduct,” the committee wrotes, chiming with plenty of extant commentary around algorithmic accountability.

“It is essential that ethics take centre stage in AI’s development and use,” added committee chairman, Lord Clement-Jones, in a statement. “The UK has a unique opportunity to shape AI positively for the public’s benefit and to lead the international community in AI’s ethical development, rather than passively accept its consequences.”

The report also calls for the government to take urgent steps to help foster “the creation of authoritative tools and systems for auditing and testing training datasets to ensure they are representative of diverse populations, and to ensure that when used to train AI systems they are unlikely to lead to prejudicial decisions,” recommending a publicly funded challenge to incentivize the development of technologies that can audit and interrogate AIs.

The committee is also recommending a cross-sector AI Code to try to steer developments in a positive, societally beneficial direction, though not for this to be codified in law (the suggestion is it could “provide the basis for statutory regulation, if and when this is determined to be necessary”).

Full Content: Parliament UK & CNBC

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