Citation[]
U.K. House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (Fifth Report, Session 2016-17. HC 145) (12 Oct. 2016) (full-text).
Overview[]
After decades of somewhat slow progress, a succession of advances have recently occurred across the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). Though the capabilities of AI systems are currently narrow and specific, they are, nevertheless, starting to have transformational impacts on everyday life: from driverless cars and supercomputers that can assist doctors with medical diagnoses, to intelligent tutoring systems that can tailor lessons to meet a student's individual cognitive needs.
Such breakthroughs raise a host of social, ethical and legal questions. This document highlights several that require serious, ongoing consideration. These include taking steps to minimise bias being accidentally built into AI systems; ensuring that the decisions they make are transparent; and instigating methods that can verify that AI technology is operating as intended and that unwanted, or unpredictable, behaviours are not produced.