An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: The de facto head of Samsung, Lee Jae-yong, apologized on Wednesday for the corruption and union-busting scandals that have bedeviled his conglomerate, declaring that he will be the last of his family members to lead the South Korean corporate empire. During a nationally televised news conference, Mr. Lee, 51, said…
Tag: ethics
The Most Widespread COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Target Bill Gates
In a 2015 speech, Bill Gates tried to warn that the greatest thread to humanity was an infectious virus, reports the New York Times. “Anti-vaccinators, members of the conspiracy group QAnon and right-wing pundits have instead seized on the video as evidence that one of the world’s richest men planned to use a pandemic to wrest control of the global health…
AI Researchers Propose ‘Bias Bounties’ To Put Ethics Principles Into Practice
Researchers from Google Brain, Intel, OpenAI, and top research labs in the U.S. and Europe joined forces this week to release what the group calls a toolbox for turning AI ethics principles into practice. From a report: The kit for organizations creating AI models includes the idea of paying developers for finding bias in AI, akin to the bug bounties offered…
Coursera in Toronto Engages the Local Tech Community
by Ashley Sutherland, Office Manager, Toronto As our team in Toronto grows, so does our mission to transform lives through learning. We were humbled recently to take that mission beyond our platform with an AI workshop earlier this year in partnership with Ladies Learning Code, a program of Canada Learning Code that offers hands-on learning […]
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Scientists Create ‘Xenobots’ — Virtual Creatures Brought to Life
“If the last few decades of progress in artificial intelligence and in molecular biology hooked up, their love child — a class of life unlike anything that has ever lived — might resemble the dark specks doing lazy laps around a petri dish in a laboratory at Tufts University.” The New York Times reports on a mind-boggling living machine that’s programmable…
‘How Wikipedia’s Volunteers Became the Web’s Best Weapon Against Misinformation’
Fast Company just published a 4,000 appreciation of Wikipedia’s volunteer editors:
[W]hile places like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter struggle to fend off a barrage of false content, with their scattershot mix of policies, fact-checkers, and algorithms, one of the web’s most robust weapons against misinformation is an archaic-looking website written by anyone with an internet connection, and moderated by a largely anonymous…
Canada’s Police Service Admits to Using Facial Recognition — After Previously Denying It
Canada’s federal and national police service the RCMP denied it was using facial recognition technology just a few weeks ago. But now long-time Slashdot reader satanicat quotes the CBC: [L]ast week, as the debate over the ethics of Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology was heating up and following reports the company’s client list had been hacked, the RCMP issued a statement…
IBM and Microsoft Sign Vatican Pledge For Ethical AI
IBM and Microsoft have signed an “ethical resolution” with the Vatican to develop AI in a way that will protect the planet and the rights of all people [Editor’s note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source]. From a report: The pledge, called the “Rome Call for AI Ethics,” will be presented on Friday morning to Pope Francis by Brad Smith,…
Finnish City Espoo Pioneers Civic AI With Education and Explainability
While civic leaders believe AI could help reinvent government services, they are also aware of citizens’ profound privacy concerns. To navigate this challenge, the Finnish city of Espoo is conducting experiments that mix consultations, transparency, and limited use cases to demonstrate the potential of civic AI. From a report: Espoo has already conducted AI trials that initially required overcoming technical hurdles…
Google AI No Longer Uses Gender Binary Tags on Images of People
Google’s image-labeling AI tool will no longer label pictures with gender tags like “man” and “woman.” From a report: In the email, Google cites its ethical rules on AI as the basis for the change. This is a progressive move by Google — and one that will hopefully set a precedent for the rest of the AI industry. Ethics aside, Google…