The CIPR’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) panel has welcomed a report published today called AI in the UK: ready, willing and able, by the House of Lords Select Committee on AI.
The House of Lords Committee – chaired by CIPR Honorary Fellow Lord Clement Jones – suggests that AI is a huge opportunity for the UK economy both in terms of growth and productivity.
It calls on the Government to claim a global leadership position and put forward its own practical ideas for the development and application of AI.
The report warns that AI should never be given the “autonomous power to hurt, destroy or deceive” people and emphasises the UK’s potential to lead research and development of AI globally. It spotlights a series of ethical challenges that AI presents to society and calls for these issues to be put at the heart of research and development.
- Intelligible AI – while AI can be a useful tool in decision-making, technical transparency is essential. It cannot be right to deploy AI that could have a substantial impact on an individual’s life without their being able to challenge the decisions it takes. This is not always possible in current applications of neural networks.
- Prejudiced AI – if the datasets AI works with are biased or incomplete, AI systems will make decisions which discriminate against people. Much more needs to be done to ensure that AI does not embed and deepen social inequalities.
- Monopoly AI – Large companies which have control over vast quantities of data must be prevented from becoming overly powerful within this landscape. The Government, with the Competition and Markets Authority, should proactively review the use and potential monopolisation of data by big technology companies operating in the UK.
“AI will enable us to work smarter and more efficiently by boosting productivity and creating new opportunities, however ethics must be placed at the heart of development. We join the report in calling for the UK government to claim a leadership position in education, investment and the development of AI.
The CIPR #AIinPR panel was founded this year to explore the impact of AI on public relations practice. Our initial finding is that AI is likely to be a huge boom for public relations. Over time it will likely eliminate repetitive, administrative roles but is already creating many new opportunities.” says Stephen Waddington Chart.PR, Hon FCIPR, Chief Engagement Officer at Ketchum, Visiting Professor at Newcastle University
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