SAN FRANCISCO ¨C Alphabet Inc.¡¯s Google said on Tuesday it was launching a global advisory council to consider ethical issues around artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
The council, which is slated to publish a report at the end of 2019, includes technology experts, digital ethicists, and people with public policy backgrounds, Kent Walker, Google¡¯s senior vice president for global affairs, said at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology conference.
The group is meant to provide recommendations for Google and other companies and researchers working in areas such as facial recognition software, a form of automation that has prompted concerns about racial bias and other limitations.
¡°We want to have the most informed and thoughtful conversations we can,¡± Walker said on stage at the MIT Technology Review event in San Francisco. ¡°We want to sit down with the council and see what agenda they want to set.¡±
Google already has its own internal AI principles, which, among other provisions, bars the California-based tech firm from using AI to develop weapons.
The eight-member Advanced Technology External Advisory Council includes Joanna Bryson, an associate professor in computing at the University of Bath; William J. Burns, a former U.S. deputy secretary of state; and Dyan Gibbens, chief executive of Houston-based drone startup Trumbull, according to a Google blog post.
The council will meet four times, beginning in April, the blog post said.
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