Projects

The Hastings Center and The Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs in partnership with leading corporations, professional societies, governmental bodies, and other non-governmental organizations, established a project, led by Wendell Wallach, to provide an effective international mechanism, with national and regional affiliates, that provides comprehensive oversight and management of emerging issues arising out of the ongoing development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and robotics.  In addition, we will initiate projects on gene editing, synthetic biology, and sustainable food development.

Picture: Lively discussion on AI-governance and global infrastructures at the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, June 2017

Responsible research and innovation (RRI) and anticipatory oversight can help properly shape the development and deployment of powerful tools and techniques. The need for creative and agile mechanisms to provide effective oversight of emerging technologies is widely recognized. Many challenges can be addressed through engineering solutions and soft governance, which includes: good practices, industry standards, professional codes of conducts, testing and certification programs, insurance policies, etc. Other approaches should be explored before turning to a reliance on laws, regulatory regimes, and international prohibitions.
The project will not attempt to replace or duplicate activities being undertaken by other institutions and initiatives, but will build upon prior activities and facilitate their future work. Moreover, it will serve as a third-party global function as a trusted intermediary, reporting to the public and responsible media whether industry is acting in good faith or merely creating the illusion of responsible innovation.
There is a signficant risk of mismatches between the policies enacted by different countries, proposals and principles recommended by various agencies and representatives of civil society, and competing court rulings. The project will be tracking these mismatches; anticipated and monitor opportunties and risks, offer recommendations for good practices and standards with a proven record of impact and harm mitigation; provide evidene and clarification for informed decisionmaking to take place; serve as a match-maker and translator for greater engagment between the different components of the “AI-value chain”..

Given adequate funding, the project anticipates establishing in 2018, an international organization, with five initial regional and/or national pilots , focused on creating agile oversight of AI technologies and robotics.

Picture: Wendell Wallach speaking on BGI4AI at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, January 2017

For more information about the project and how to get involved please contact the Project Lead Matthew Scherer