Five tech giants create new coalition to help the public understand the benefits and workings behind AI technology. Google, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon team together for this new AI group
(image via Partnership on AI)
What once seemed like a concept from a sci-fi movie, is now quickly becoming a part of everyday life. AI is popping up more and being integrated in various services and products we often use. But with technology constantly shaping and companies wanting to be on top of the latest trends, it can be difficult to keep up with the evolving sphere. Sometimes AI can be hard to understand. What does it mean exactly? And how does it benefit or hinder society? A bunch of tech giants have banded together to help the public understand AI under the program Partnership on AI.
The coalition was put together by Google, Facebook, Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon. Their main goal is giving the public a better understanding of AI, but they have other goals as well. Though they say there's no intention to lobby government bodies, the effort wants to further research and “recommend best practices and publish research under an open license.” The aim of the research is to ensure the best ethics, transparency, and privacy is put into place in terms of AI. They also encourage an open platform where researchers and others in the industry can communicate with one another.
It makes sense for these five companies to join forces seeing as they each have an investment regarding AI. For example, Amazon has voice assistant Alexa, Google is working with DeepMind, IBM has the super-smart Watson, and Facebook integrates AI on the site for several features, including its News Feed. But people were quick to notice two big tech giants were missing from the tentative: Apple and Elon Musk.
With Apple throwing its hat into the AI ring, it seems weird they're not a part of this effort. Just a few months ago, Apple bought Seatte base tech startup Turi, a company that specializes in machine learning. Eric Horvitz of Microsoft and one of the partnership's co-chairs addressed this absence and says they've been in talks with Apple. So far there's been no comment from the company about this partnership.
Along with Apple, OpenAI, the research outfit backed by tech fanatic Elon Musk, is missing from this new group. OpenAI is all about advancing AI in a way that will benefit society and they're one of the most well funded AI research labs. So why aren't they a part of Partnership on AI? Co-founder of OpenAI Greg Brockman remarked he was happy to see the group launch, but didn't mention anything about joining the group. Partnership on AI is hoping to reach out to other companies in the future and hope they'll join the coalition. But what we really want to know is will the group collaborate on cool new projects? We can hope.
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