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Amazon, Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft team up to promote artificial intelligence best practices.
An artificial intelligence partnership between some of the biggest tech giants in the U.S. lacks substance, claimed one telco expert on Friday.
The sinisterly-titled ‘Partnership on Artificial Intelligence to Benefit People and Society’ (Partnership on AI) is backed by Amazon, Facebook, Google’s DeepMind AI unit, IBM and Microsoft.
The non-profit organisation, which is open to additional members, will work on best practices, and conduct and publish research on a raft of AI subjects, namely: ethics, fairness, and inclusiveness; transparency, privacy, and interoperability; collaboration between people and AI systems; and the trustworthiness, reliability, and robustness of the technology.
"It does not intend to lobby government or other policy-making bodies," the group said in a statement on Wednesdsay.
"These companies are all fierce competitors whose long-term differentiation will, at least in part, hinge on their ability to make their machines better than the others’," said Radio Free Mobile (RFM) founder Richard Windsor, in a research note on Friday.
The inherent rivalry could stymie the Partnership on AI’s effectiveness, he said, particularly in the vital area of algorithms, he said.
"AI algorithms are likely to become the most valuable asset that any ecosystem has as they will be the foundation upon which profitable businesses are built and sustained," Windsor explained.
Ergo, should one of the Partnership on AI members achieve a significant breakthrough that actually would benefit people and society, it is highly unlikely to share it with the rest of the group.
"The creator of this algorithm will have a fiduciary duty to deliver a return on the money invested by its stakeholders before allowing it to be freely used for the greater good," said Windsor.
"The announcement is full of great intentions but until there is some substance around the fluff, it will be very difficult to tell whether society will benefit at all," he said.
