Learn how your company can create applications to automate tasks and generate further efficiencies through low-code/no-code tools on November 9 at the virtual Low-Code/No-Code Summit. Register here.

Responsible artificial intelligence (AI), ethical AI, trustworthy AI. Call it what you want its a concept thats impossible to ignore if you pay attention to the tech industry.

As AI has rapidly advanced, more voices have joined in the cry to ensure that it remains safe. The near-unanimous consensus is that AI can easily become biased, unethical and even dangerous.

To address this ever-growing issue, today the White House released a Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights. This outlines five principles that should guide the design, use and deployment of automated systems to protect Americans in this age of AI.

The issues with AI are well-documented, the Blueprint points out from unsafe systems in patient care to discriminatory algorithms used for hiring and credit decisions.

Low-Code/No-Code Summit

Join todays leading executives at the Low-Code/No-Code Summit virtually on November 9. Register for your free pass today.

The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights is a guide for a society that protects all people from these threats and uses technologies in ways that reinforce our highest values, it reads.

The EU has led the way in realizing an ethical AI future with its proposed EU AI act. Numerous organizations have also broached the concept of developing an overarching framework.

The U.S. has notably lagged in the discussion. Prior to today, the federal government had not provided any concrete guidance on protecting citizens from AI dangers, even as President Joe Biden has called for protections around privacy and data collection.

Many still say that the Blueprint, while a good start, doesnt go far enough and doesnt have what it takes to gain true traction.

It is exciting to see the U.S. joining an international movement to help understand and control the impact of new computing technologies, and especially artificial intelligence, to make sure the technologies enhance human society in positive ways, said James Hendler, chair of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) technology policy council.

Hendler, a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and one of the originators of the Semantic Web, pointed to recent statements including the Rome Call for AI Ethics, the proposed EU regulations on AI and statements from the UN committee.

They are all calling for more understanding of the impacts of increasingly autonomous systems on human rights and human values, he said. The global technology council of the ACM has been working with our member committees to update earlier statements on algorithmic accountability, as we believe regulation of this technology needs to be a global, not just national, effort.

Similarly, the Algorithmic Justice League posted on its Twitter page that the Blueprint is a step in the right direction in the fight toward algorithmic justice.

The League combines art and research to raise public awareness of the racism, sexism, ableism and other harmful forms of discrimination that can be perpetuated by AI.

Others point to the fact that the Blueprint doesnt include any recommendations for restrictions on the use of controversial forms of AI such as those that can identify people in real-time via biometric data or facial images. Some also point out that it does not address the critical issue of autonomous lethal weapons or smart cities.

The White Houses Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), which advises the president on science and technology, first talked of its vision for the blueprint last year.

The five identified principles:

The Blueprint is accompanied by a handbook, From Principles to Practice, with detailed steps toward actualizing these principles in the technological design process.

It was framed based on insights from researchers, technologists, advocates, journalists and policymakers, and notes that, while automated systems have brought about extraordinary benefits, they have also caused significant harm.

It concludes that, these principles help provide guidance whenever automated systems can meaningfully impact the publics rights, opportunities, or access to critical needs.

VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings.

Visit link:
The White House moves to hold artificial intelligence accountable with AI Bill of Rights - VentureBeat

Far from being a futuristic concept relegated to the realms of science fiction, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace is becoming more common. The benefits of using AI are often cited by reference to time and productivity savings. However, the challenges of implementing AI into HR practice and procedures should not be underestimated.

AI technologies are already being used across a broad range of industries, at every stage in the employment cycle. From recruitment to dismissal, their use has significant implications. In recent months, incidents at Meta, Estee Lauder and payment service company Xsolla have hit the headlines for utilising AI when dismissing employees.

All three companies used algorithms as part of their selection process. For Meta and Xsolla, the algorithms used analysed employee performance against key metrics to identify those who were unengaged and unproductive. These employees were subsequently dismissed.

Similarly, Estee Lauder used an algorithm when making three makeup artists redundant, which assessed employees during a video interview. The software measured the content of the womens answers and expressions during interview and evaluated the results against other data about their job performance.It led to their dismissal.

Where algorithms are used in place of human decision-making, they risk replicating and reflecting existing biases and inequalities in society.

An AI system is created by a variety of participants, from those writing the code, inputting the instructions, those supplying the dataset on which the AI system is trained and those managing the process. There is significant scope for bias to be introduced at each stage.

If, for example, a bias towards recruiting men is included in the dataset, or women are under-represented, this is likely to be replicated in the AI decision. The result is an AI system making decisions that reproduces inherent bias. If unaddressed, those biases can become exaggerated as the AI learns becoming more adept at differentiating using those biases.

To mitigate this risk, HR teams should test the technology with comparison between AI and human decisions looking for bias. This is only going to be effective in combating unconscious bias if the reviewers comprise a diverse group themselves. If bias is discovered, the algorithm can and should be changed.

AI systems are increasingly being viewed by employers as an efficient way of measuring staff performance. While AI may identify top performers based on key business metrics, they lack personal experience, emotional intelligence and the ability to form an opinion to shape decisions. There is a danger that low-performing staff could be disregarded solely on an assessment of metrics. Smart employees are likely to find ways to manipulate AI to their advantage in a way that might not be so easy without technology.

It is tempting to trust AI to limit legal risks by using it for decision-making. Superficially, this may be right, but the potential unintended consequences of any AI system could easily create a lack of transparency and bias equivalent to that of its human creators.

When AI systems are used, there is an obligation to consider how these might impact on fairness, accountability and transparency in the workplace.There is also a risk of employers exposing themselves to costly discrimination claims, particularly where the policy of using AI disadvantages an employee because of a protected characteristic (such as sex or race) and discriminatory decisions are made as a result.

Until AI develops to outperform humans in learning from mistakes or understanding the law, its use is unlikely to materially mitigate risk in the meantime.

Catherine Hawkes is a senior associate in the employment law team at RWK Goodman.

Originally posted here:
Artificial intelligence in the workplace - ComputerWeekly.com

On September 22, 2022, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) conducted a live meeting for its Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Emerging Technologies (ET) Partnership Series. During this meeting, panelists from industry and the USPTO provided helpful tips on drafting and prosecuting patent applications that include AI components, including special tips for the biotech industry.Key takeaways from the meeting and published materials will be summarized in our Three-Part Blog Series.

Part Two Landscape of AI in Biotechnology

Nicholas Pairolero, Research Economist, USPTO provided an informative landscape of AI in Biotech. Overall, AI is increasingly used in biotechnology, however biotechnology AI patenting is diffusing across all technologies, owners, and inventor-patentees. The definition of AI in this panel corresponded with 8 component technologies, including planning/control, knowledge processing, speech, AI hardware, evolutionary computation, natural language processing, machine learning, and vision. Some interesting charts generated by Mr. Pairolero and presented during the panel are shown herein.

In this chart, machine learning applications, evolutionary computation, and knowledge processing in the biotechnology space corresponded with higher filing rates than patent application filings in general.

In this chart, Mr. Pairolero analyzed patent application filings in accordance with the country of the patent owner once the patent application granted. On the left, the patent owners from the U.S. that filed U.S. applications clearly outweighed patent owners from foreign countries. On the right, the patent owners filing applications related to AI Biotechnology patents is more dispersed.

In this chart, the allowance rate of AI biotechnology patent applications and non-AI patent applications is illustrated. As shown, there is a slightly higher allowance rate for biotechnology applications when they are not associated with AI verses the applications that are associated with AI.

Read more:
Takeaways From the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies Partnership Series Part Two of Three - JD...

Danny Olivas

John Daniel Danny Olivas, former NASA astronaut and current member of the NASA Advisory Council, has joined the staff of the Visual Intelligence and Multimedia Analytics Laboratory (VIMAL) of USCs Information Sciences Institute (ISI) as Co-Director for AI Initiatives in Space.

Olivas brings considerable experience to VIMAL, ISI and USC. A veteran of space shuttle missions in 2007 and 2009, he is the recipient of two NASA Space Flight Medals and the NASA Exceptional Service and Exceptional Achievement Medals. Olivas completed five space walks totaling over 34 hours outside of the International Space Station. His expertise in space is rivaled only by his passion for it, and he brings both to his new role.

Olivas said, I am excited about the opportunity to help expand USCs footprint in space, for researchers and students alike.

VIMAL which is led by Wael AbdAlmageed, research director at ISI and research associate professor of electrical and computer engineering has a noble and straight-forward mission: to empower students to use artificial intelligence to make the world a better place, one day at a time. With Olivas on the team, VIMAL is now able to look beyond Earth to do this.

Olivas and AbdAlmageed met in July 2022, when they were both invited to Renaissance Weekend, a prestigious, non-partisan, invite-only retreat for innovative thinkers across disciplines held this year in Banff,Canada. They quickly realized they had a lot in common. AbdAlmageed said, Danny [Olivas] and I come from very similar mindsets and backgrounds. We believe in working hard on hard problems, without giving up, for a long period of time. We believe that is enough to make things happen.

Interested in each others area of expertise, the two discussed how to harness their collective grit and work together. A month later, Olivas visited ISI for the day to learn about VIMAL and ISI, and present his thoughts on opportunities for AI in space.

Olivas astronaut background and exposure to space provides a valuable new perspective on new areas for data analysis. Since the beginning of the [NASA] program, NASA has produced more data than has been analyzed, he noted. He added that this data is ripe for analysis through artificial intelligence and machine learning.

One application is climate, which AbdAlmageed called an area of growth for VIMAL.

NASA has instruments that can see things like water vapor in the upper atmosphere, Olivas said. All these kinds of things can not only be analyzed in their individual silos of monitoring, but you can now start to integrate data across the different instruments to build a much more robust picture of how climate changes are affecting a certain region.

Ozone and CO2 in the atmosphere, temperature trends across the planet, drought prediction, sea level detection, deforestation, planet population changes these are just some of the areas where NASA has useful historical data, according to Olivas.

This data has been available by NASA for many, many years, he added, and (they) provide an opportunity to take pieces of this information and start to integrate them together and allow computational technologies to take over where human beings have had to digest this information in the past, to try to make sense of it.

As NASA prepares for a future in which humans will travel to Mars, new and exciting AI applications will emerge. There are some specific robotic applications that are very unique to NASAs space program, Olivas said. For example, a robot that can check the mood of an astronaut based on their facial expressions or voice intonations something that will be increasingly important for mental health as missions extend from months to years with Mars exploration.

Exploration rovers are another area where Olivas sees room for more AI, again, with Mars as the example: It takes about twenty minutes to be able to send a command from Earth to Mars. By the time you get the photograph that your rover is marching over a cliff, its probably the wrong time to send the command to stop moving. So you want to have more intelligence being built on the platform to allow the rover to make decisions for itself.

Climate data, robots and rovers these are areas Olivas might take VIMAL in the future. However, the first problem Olivas and AbdAlmageed plan on tackling is trash, specifically orbital debris.

NASA defines orbital debris as any non-functional human-made object in orbit around the Earth. Think: spacecraft, satellites, rockets or what youd get if any of those collided or exploded. Debris ranges in size from sub-microns all the way to several meters from a paint chip to a school bus with hundreds of thousands of estimated pieces orbiting Earth.

The trouble comes from the fact that this debris travels at orbital velocities that are dangerous to NASAs missions picture that paint chip or school bus traveling at 16,000 mph! Olivas said, its that hyper-velocity impact that causes all sorts of problems, not only with the space station or human spacecraft, but also with satellite technology. It is a serious threat to astronauts, spacecraft and space exploration in general.

The VIMAL team will be looking at ways to use their sensing, computer vision and AI expertise to identify pieces of debris and track them for long periods of time as they orbit Earth.

Olivas extends a strong legacy of innovation in space exploration at USC. He joins fellow former NASA astronauts Paul Ronney and Garrett Reisman, who also serve as faculty at USC Viterbi, which is one of a core group of top schools with a distinct astronautical program. This wont be the first time Olivas and Reisman have worked together, they were classmates in the NASA astronaut program.

To date, school researchers have created innovations in spacecraft propulsion, space science, space environment, space communications, satellites and materials. Astronaut Neil Armstrong was a USC Viterbi alumnus, and the school has a dedicated Space Engineering Research Center at ISI.

USC Viterbi maintains strong connections with pioneering space organizations and alumni who design and build rockets and space launchers, communications and direct broadcasting satellites, navigational systems, crewed space vehicles and planetary probes.

At the end of the day, space is a human endeavor, said Olivas, who pointed out that part of being an astronaut involves looking out for one another. He seemed impressed by this aspect of the work done by VIMAL.

One thing that Ive come to appreciate at VIMAL is the inclusive nature of the collaborations; it is really inspirational, he said.

AbdAlmageed has very intentionally fostered the collaborative environment of VIMAL. Im proud that weve created a culture in the lab where everybody feels a sense of ownership and partnership. He continued, I couldnt have done something like hire Danny [Olivas] without the significant contributions of everyone in VIMAL who do the work day in and day out. This was a team effort. I am also very grateful to Dr. Craig Knoblock, ISI Executive Director, for supporting our ambitious initiatives and pursuits.

Olivas certainly seems excited to join the team, I look forward to sharing, learning and seeing where those opportunities might be with VIMAL, concluded the astronaut.

Published on October 3rd, 2022

Last updated on October 3rd, 2022

Read more from the original source:
Artificial Intelligence in Space - USC's Information Sciences Institute is on a Mission - USC Viterbi | School of Engineering - USC Viterbi School of...

There's nothing that blurs the line between frightening and fascinatingquitelike artificial intelligence.

And since artificial intelligence and electronic music are becoming moresymbiotic by the day, the staff here at EDM.comwanted to see just how far it could go in a visual sense. So we came up with bizarre descriptions of artists and fed them through A.I. art generators.

Some images are photorealistic. Others arefancifullydistorted. And the majority of them are flat-out creepy.

But we digress. Read on to see our weird and wonderful creations.

"TOKiMONSTA DJing in a neon sky arcade with golden canaries" by Jason Heffler.

Jason Heffler

"REZZ DJ as painted by Salvador Dal" by Nick Yopko.

Nick Yopko

"Flume creating his latest album in a psychedelic jungle" by Koji Aiken.

Koji Aiken

"Martin Garrix in his studio at the top of a cyberpunk skyscraper" by Konstantinos Karakolis.

Konstantinos Karakolis

"CloZee DJs underwater with neon jellyfish"byShakiel Mahjouri.

Shakiel Mahjouri

Charlotte de Witte DJing in a hurricane of music by Tessa Frey.

Tessa Frey

"TroyBoi DJing inside a technicolor candy shop rave"by Carlie Belbin.

Carlie Belbin

"Lane 8 DJing on top of a giant mushroom" by Mikala Lugen.

Mikala Lugen

"Daft Punk baking a cake on the moon" by Jarett Lopez.

Jarett Lopez

Shaq DJing at the base of an active volcano site with lightning in the sky by Cameron Sunkel.

Scroll to Continue

Cameron Sunkel

"Marc Rebillet in a robe in Manhattan singing to a sea of psychedelic flamingos"by Leah McClure.

Leah McClure

Porter Robinson DJing deep in the ocean while gasping for the last sight of sky" by Grecco Costamagna.

Grecco Costamagna

Mija DJing in a post-apocalyptic, punk rock cyberpunk dystopian rave by Brian Rapaport.

Brian Rapoport

"Calvin Harris playing piano on a rowboat in outer space" by Kyle B. Jones.

Kyle B. Jones

"Inside of a tropical coconut, Kygo plays a glittery piano surrounded by glowing flamingos"by Brooke Bierman.

Brooke Bierman

"Dillon Francis and a colorful piatawalking through a futuristic cityscape"- by Lennon Cihak.

Lennon Cihak

Perhaps no artist is more fitting for this A.I. endeavor than the iconic Aphex Twin, whose metaphysically madcap aesthetic chills the collective spine of the music industry to this day. Sowe had a little too much fun.

"Aphex Twin creating his own twisted synthesizer in a dystopian depraved hellscape surrounded by strange dark followers" by Saad Masood.

Saad Masood

Saad Masood

Saad Masood

"Aphex twin performs in a dystopian depraved hellscape for a crowd of dark souls" bySaad Masood.

Saad Masood

Saad Masood

Saad Masood

Editor's Note: The images in this article were generated usingWonder and Dream by WOMBO.

Continued here:
We Came Up With Bizarre Descriptions of DJsThen Used Artificial Intelligence to Bring Them to Life - EDM.com