Fundamental Philosophy

AI is expected to contribute to the realization of Society 5.0 significantly. We consider it to be important not only to deliver many benefits of AI to people and society, derived from its efficiency and convenience, but to utilize AI as public goods of human beings as a whole and to ensure the global sustainability described in SDGs, through qualitative changes generated by genuine innovations toward the ideal society. We consider it to be essential to respect the following three values as philosophy to be pursued to be realized in coming society.
Principle: Social Principles of Human-centric AI, Dec 27, 2018

Published by Cabinet Office, Government of Japan

Related Principles

· (2) Education

In a society premised on AI, we have to eliminate disparities, divisions, or socially weak people. Therefore, policy makers and managers of the enterprises involved in AI must have an accurate understanding of AI, the knowledge for proper use of AI in society and AI ethics, taking into account the complexity of AI and the possibility that AI can be misused intentionally. The AI user should understand the outline of AI and be educated to utilize it properly because AI is much more complicated than the already developed conventional tools. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of AI’s contributions to society, it is important for the developers of AI to learn about the social sciences, business models, and ethics, including normative awareness of norms and wide range of liberal arts not to mention the basis possibly generated by AI. From the above point of view, it is necessary to establish an educational environment that provides AI literacy according to the following principles, equally to every person. In order to get rid of disparity between people having a good knowledge about AI technology and those being weak in it, opportunities for education such as AI literacy are widely provided in early childhood education and primary and secondary education. The opportunities of learning about AI should be provided for the elderly people as well as workforce generation. Our society needs an education scheme by which anyone should be able to learn AI, mathematics, and data science beyond the boundaries of literature and science. Literacy education provides the following contents: 1) Data used by AI are usually contaminated by bias, 2) AI is easy to generate unwanted bias in its use, and 3) The issues of impartiality, fairness, and privacy protection which are inherent to actual use of AI. In a society in which AI is widely used, the educational environment is expected to change from the current unilateral and uniform teaching style to one that matches the interests and skill level of each individual person. Therefore, the society probably shares the view that the education system will change constantly to the above mentioned education style, regardless of the success experience in the educational system of the past. In education, it is especially important to avoid dropouts. For this, it is desirable to introduce an interactive educational environment which fully utilizes AI technologies and allows students to work together to feel a kind accomplishment. In order to develop such an educational environment, it is desirable that companies and citizens work on their own initiative, not to burden administrations and schools (teachers).

Published by Cabinet Office, Government of Japan in Social Principles of Human-centric AI, Dec 27, 2018

Preamble

Two of Deutsche Telekom’s most important goals are to keep being a trusted companion and to enhance customer experience. We see it as our responsibility as one of the leading ICT companies in Europe to foster the development of “intelligent technologies”. At least either important, these technologies, such as AI, must follow predefined ethical rules. To define a corresponding ethical framework, firstly it needs a common understanding on what AI means. Today there are several definitions of AI, like the very first one of John McCarthy (1956) “Every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it.” In line with other companies and main players in the field of AI we at DT think of AI as the imitation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. These processes include learning, reasoning, and self correction. After several decades, Artificial Intelligence has become one of the most intriguing topics of today – and the future. It has become widespread available and is discussed not only among experts but also more and more in public, politics, etc.. AI has started to influence business (new market opportunities as well as efficiency driver), society (e.g. broad discussion about autonomously driving vehicles or AI as “job machine” vs. “job killer”) and the life of each individual (AI already found its way into the living room, e.g. with voice steered digital assistants like smart speakers). But the use of AI and its possibilities confront us not only with fast developing technologies but as well as with the fact that our ethical roadmaps, based on human human interactions, might not be sufficient in this new era of technological influence. New questions arise and situations that were not imaginable in our daily lives then emerge. We as DT also want to develop and make use of AI. This technology can bring many benefits based on improving customer experience or simplicity. We are already in the game, e.g having several AI related projects running. With these comes an increase of digital responsibility on our side to ensure that AI is utilized in an ethical manner. So we as DT have to give answers to our customers, shareholders and stakeholders. The following Digital Ethics guidelines state how we as Deutsche Telekom want to build the future with AI. For us, technology serves one main purpose: It must act supportingly. Thus AI is in any case supposed to extend and complement human abilities rather than lessen them. Remark: The impact of AI on DT jobs – may it as a benefit and for value creation in the sense of job enrichment and enlargement or may it in the sense of efficiency is however not focus of these guidelines.

Published by Deutsche Telekom in Deutsche Telekom’s guidelines for artificial intelligence, May 11, 2018

VI. Societal and environmental well being

For AI to be trustworthy, its impact on the environment and other sentient beings should be taken into account. Ideally, all humans, including future generations, should benefit from biodiversity and a habitable environment. Sustainability and ecological responsibility of AI systems should hence be encouraged. The same applies to AI solutions addressing areas of global concern, such as for instance the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Furthermore, the impact of AI systems should be considered not only from an individual perspective, but also from the perspective of society as a whole. The use of AI systems should be given careful consideration particularly in situations relating to the democratic process, including opinion formation, political decision making or electoral contexts. Moreover, AI’s social impact should be considered. While AI systems can be used to enhance social skills, they can equally contribute to their deterioration.

Published by European Commission in Key requirements for trustworthy AI, Apr 8, 2019

PREAMBLE

For the first time in human history, it is possible to create autonomous systems capable of performing complex tasks of which natural intelligence alone was thought capable: processing large quantities of information, calculating and predicting, learning and adapting responses to changing situations, and recognizing and classifying objects. Given the immaterial nature of these tasks, and by analogy with human intelligence, we designate these wide ranging systems under the general name of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence constitutes a major form of scientific and technological progress, which can generate considerable social benefits by improving living conditions and health, facilitating justice, creating wealth, bolstering public safety, and mitigating the impact of human activities on the environment and the climate. Intelligent machines are not limited to performing better calculations than human beings; they can also interact with sentient beings, keep them company and take care of them. However, the development of artificial intelligence does pose major ethical challenges and social risks. Indeed, intelligent machines can restrict the choices of individuals and groups, lower living standards, disrupt the organization of labor and the job market, influence politics, clash with fundamental rights, exacerbate social and economic inequalities, and affect ecosystems, the climate and the environment. Although scientific progress, and living in a society, always carry a risk, it is up to the citizens to determine the moral and political ends that give meaning to the risks encountered in an uncertain world. The lower the risks of its deployment, the greater the benefits of artificial intelligence will be. The first danger of artificial intelligence development consists in giving the illusion that we can master the future through calculations. Reducing society to a series of numbers and ruling it through algorithmic procedures is an old pipe dream that still drives human ambitions. But when it comes to human affairs, tomorrow rarely resembles today, and numbers cannot determine what has moral value, nor what is socially desirable. The principles of the current declaration are like points on a moral compass that will help guide the development of artificial intelligence towards morally and socially desirable ends. They also offer an ethical framework that promotes internationally recognized human rights in the fields affected by the rollout of artificial intelligence. Taken as a whole, the principles articulated lay the foundation for cultivating social trust towards artificially intelligent systems. The principles of the current declaration rest on the common belief that human beings seek to grow as social beings endowed with sensations, thoughts and feelings, and strive to fulfill their potential by freely exercising their emotional, moral and intellectual capacities. It is incumbent on the various public and private stakeholders and policymakers at the local, national and international level to ensure that the development and deployment of artificial intelligence are compatible with the protection of fundamental human capacities and goals, and contribute toward their fuller realization. With this goal in mind, one must interpret the proposed principles in a coherent manner, while taking into account the specific social, cultural, political and legal contexts of their application.

Published by University of Montreal in The Montreal Declaration for a Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence, Dec 4, 2018

3. Human centric AI

AI should be at the service of society and generate tangible benefits for people. AI systems should always stay under human control and be driven by value based considerations. Telefónica is conscious of the fact that the implementation of AI in our products and services should in no way lead to a negative impact on human rights or the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We are concerned about the potential use of AI for the creation or spreading of fake news, technology addiction, and the potential reinforcement of societal bias in algorithms in general. We commit to working towards avoiding these tendencies to the extent it is within our realm of control.

Published by Telefónica in AI Principles of Telefónica, Oct 30, 2018