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How should government and society come together to address the challenge of regulating artificial intelligence? What approaches and tools will promote innovation, protect society from harm, and build public trust in AI? As part of the World Economic Forum’s Shaping the Future of Technology Governance: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Platform, PHI President George Tilesch is part of the global working group that authored its first report, sponsored by the Government of New Zealand, but having representatives of at least 10 other governments, Tech industry, academia, and associations.

The World Economic Forum’s Frameworks for Reimagining Regulation at the Age of AI seek to address the need for upgrading our existing regulatory environment to ensure the trustworthy design and deployment of AI. These frameworks provide Governments with innovative approaches and tools for regulating AI that can be scaled.

The challenge

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a key driver of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Algorithms are already being applied to improve predictions, optimize systems and drive productivity in many other sectors. However, early experience shows that AI can create serious challenges. Without proper oversight, AI may replicate or even exacerbate human bias and discrimination, cause potential job displacement, and lead to other unintended and harmful consequences.

To accelerate the benefits of AI and mitigate its risks, governments need to design suitable regulatory frameworks. However, regulating AI is a complex endeavour. Experts hold diverse views on what areas and activities should be regulated, and approaches to regulating AI diverge sharply across regions. In some jurisdictions, a lack of consensus on a path forward and the risk of stifling innovation may deter any action. Emerging controversies surrounding AI can also force governments to implement hastily constructed and suboptimal regulatory policies. 

Given the growing importance of this powerful technology, AI regulation should not be designed in a haphazard manner. A collaborative roadmap is needed to reimagine an agile regulatory system for AI that encourages innovation and minimizes its risks.

The Reimagining AI Regulation project brings together stakeholders from all sectors of society to collaborate on co-designing innovative, agile frameworks for governing AI. Underpinning this is the belief that robust regulation promotes consumer confidence, provides the opportunity for global mobility, and gives social license for the adoption of emerging technologies.

Activities are centred on three core objectives:

1. Framing national and global conversations on regulating AI in a coherent and accessible manner
2. Developing a roadmap for policy-makers to facilitate their decisions about whether and how to regulate AI
3. Identifying and iterating innovative approaches and tools for regulating AI that can be scaled

Developed by the Artificial Intelligence Working Group of the ACT-IAC Emerging Technology Community of Interest, with PHI President George Tilesch as a co-author, the new Applied AI Ethics Framework is a promising development on the path of responsible public sector use of AI.

AI is becoming an influential cornerstone of the digital future as we increasingly rely on it to support and inform our world.  As organizations become more dependent upon the many technologies which comprise AI, there is a need to determine how much confidence and trust to place in them.  To accomplish this ethically, a means to determine its performance and continually monitor for mission veracity or any adverse impacts is needed. This paper addresses the overall ethical framework through an index that evaluates five core parameters underpinning the impact of AI: Bias, Fairness, Transparency, Responsibility, and Interpretability. By addressing and incorporating these five components, the framework can be used to understand the ethical automation of solutions to meet desired mission outcomes.

The ACT-IAC Ethical Application of AI White Paper can be downloaded here.

The 2020 book BetweenBrains: Taking Back our AI Future, co-authored by NASA’s Dr. Omar Hatamleh and PHI President Tilesch was Book of the Month at Amazon Web Services in August 2020.

Taking back our AI Future…now!

Following an intense and enlightening debate with AWS AI-focused employees, George Tilesch sat down with Book Club host Ozii Obiyo for a long interview:

“There are already many books about artificial intelligence; what compelled/inspired you to write this book, and why is now the right time for everyone to read BetweenBrains?

First, when we started writing more than three years ago, the situation was wildly different re: the sheer quantity of AI Books present. As a transversal technology on the path of becoming near-ubiquitous, that also triggers fundamental philosophical/ethical questions; it is actually very welcoming to have many books on the topic, as it exposes myriad perspectives.

We got inspired to research and write at a point in time when there was an explosion in both AI capabilities and AI investment. Those days were characterized by boundless techno-optimism and the ecstasy of exponential returns. This period was the time of big bets on AI, and almost nobody talked about dangers or risks. Even those who did were talking about the dangers of a very distant future. What has changed since is that the media exposed the topic as something that is much more mainstream. Unfortunately, AI automatically became part of various mainstream black-or-white narratives circulating in our low-trust, high-tension world that is primarily digital now. As such, people became equally concerned and curious about AI but without the general, unbiased understanding that would enable taking stances based on the thorough proper analysis in the right mindset.  

When we started to write, we were pretty explicit about a few principles and the mission. We wanted to write a balanced book applying critical thinking and thorough analysis, but also with a strong and uncompromising moral anchor. We wanted to write a beautiful mixture that is full of accurate and relevant data on how our world has already changed because of AI but is also timeless in a sense because of fundamental philosophical questions it inevitably raises. We thought it essential to provide a peek into our field experience that we gathered while working with world leaders and top executives to make some aspects very practical and human at the same time. We wanted to cover the now and the near-term.  We believed much of the AI narrative was being captured by notions of Superintelligence, Singularity, or Robot Rights. These notions had way less relevance and impact on our lives than the AI technologies that were already out or ready to jump, near invisibly to most.

And most importantly, we wanted to ask the questions both profound and hard that would enable humanity to define the purpose and steer the course of a beneficial AI Future for our civilization. We wanted to expand the horizons of those AI practitioners and stakeholders who mostly see one slice of the enormous AI pie.  Also, talk to the broadest possible audience of informed digital citizens increasingly seeking answers to the myriad question marks that even AI’s current power and promise triggers.”

Read the full interview here.

Get the book on Amazon and most major book platforms in e-book, print or audio.

Readers have said:

“Asimov, Hawking, and Gates have all posited that AI is dangerous to mankind’s future and will likely end mankind’s reign on this earth. Hatamleh and Tilesch artfully explain why we can have a synergistic future with AI…”

“This is a great book for anyone wanting to get a broad idea of the current impact of AI on our economy and society and learn about some of the hypotheses on its near and distant future.”

“Dr. Hatamleh and Dr. Tilesch have put together an amazing and a timeless piece of work. It will stimulate your brain, tease your imagination, and it will take you back in time to your childhood and makes you question the past the present and the future…”

“I enjoyed this book tremendously. Written with clarity and sweeping in breadth it can act as a great introduction into the world of AI or serve to broaden the horizons and stimulate the thought process of experienced practitioners.”

“Truly amazing overview of this exciting topic at the era when humanity is birthing a new species. Holistic view, attention to details and satisfies curiosity while leaves space for imagination.”

“It is inspiring, easy-to-read, yet full of data and research results about where humanity is heading. Would recommend for everyone who want to be in the know about the future of humanity in the age of AI”

“AI has been woo-woo stuff for decades, perpetually around the corner. It’s been a Utopian/Dystopian riff on the Boy Who Cried Wolf, and we’ve gotten used to it. “Betweenbrains” is a remarkably researched, thoughtful broadside telling us to pay attention now.”

President Tilesch has been interviewed by the ACM, Association for Computing Machinery on what the opportunities and pitfalls are regarding AI use in public education.

“Few schools worldwide are using AI, although that could change in the next 10 years according to George Tilesch, a global #AI consultant and co-author of BetweenBrains, a book about the current and future impact of AI. “I think AI systems will become the primary toolkit of educational systems,” he says. “Ninety percent of the work will be done by machines, and 10%, focusing on the character development of the individual, will be done by teachers.”

President George Tilesch hosted a 2-hour TV show with Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, AI Prof. Stuart Russell (Author of Human Compatible), Brain Prize winner Prof. Gyorgy Buzsaki and AImotive CEO Laszlo Kishonti on the present and future of AI. This was the first time these great scientists and applied AI experts were gathered around the virtual roundtable to guide citizens through the present and the future of AI. Tens of thousands were watching live as the participants were debating 6 key aspects of human-compatible AI development and impact.

A lasting success

As part of the interactive talk, the experts have covered AI definitions; our Moment in Time in AI evolution; Applied AI in all fields of life, and what can AI do for us now. Then they took a walk on the dark side, talking AI Threats and Challenges and how to overcome them, then segued to Intelligence Explosion and how can we humans cope and maintain control. The symposium closed with an envisioning exercise on how to optimize our human future in an AI world.
The event attracted hundreds of audience questions and massive media attention: close to 200 articles, TV and radio interviews appeared in mainstream media. Event sponsor MVM Group, a major power and energy company has already signaled that they would be most happy to heed Dr. Tyson’s on-stage request and plan for a large-scale continuation in Budapest in 2021.

Please watch the FutureTalks highlights video here:

See you all at Futuretalks 2021!