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The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has highlighted a need for development of artificial intelligence (AI) in Australia to be wrapped with a sufficient framework to ensure nothing is set onto citizens without appropriate ethical consideration.
The organisation has published a discussion paper [PDF], Artificial Intelligence: Australia’s Ethics Framework, on the key issues raised by large-scale AI, seeking answers to a handful of questions that are expected to inform the government’s approach to AI ethics in Australia.
Highlighted by CSIRO are eight core principles that will guide the framework: That it generates net-benefits, does no harm, complies with regulatory and legal requirements, appropriately considers privacy, boasts fairness, is transparent and easily explained, contains provisions for contesting a decision made by a machine, and that there is an accountability trail.
“Australia’s colloquial motto is a ‘fair go’ for all. Ensuring fairness across the many different groups in Australian society will be challenging, but this cuts right to the heart of ethical AI,” CSIRO wrote.
CSIRO said that while transparency and AI is a complex issue, the ultimate goal of transparency measures are to achieve accountability, but that the inner workings of some AI technologies are not easy to explain.
“Even in these cases, it is still possible to keep the developers and users of algorithms accountable,” it added. “On the other hand, AI ‘black boxes’ in which the inner workings of an AI are shrouded in secrecy are not acceptable when public interest is at stake.”
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