Fun article from MITs Technology Review:
Big Tech’s guide to talking about AI ethics
50-ish words you can use to show that you care without incriminating yourself.
AI researchers often say good machine learning is really more art than science. The same could be said for effective public relations. Selecting the right words to strike a positive tone or reframe the conversation about AI is a delicate task: done well, it can strengthen one’s brand image, but done poorly, it can trigger an even greater backlash.
The tech giants would know. Over the last few years, they’ve had to learn this art quickly as they’ve faced increasing public distrust of their actions and intensifying criticism about their AI research and technologies.
Now they’ve developed a new vocabulary to use when they want to assure the public that they care deeply about developing AI responsibly—but want to make sure they don’t invite too much scrutiny. Here’s an insider’s guide to decoding their language and challenging the assumptions and values baked in.
accountability (n) - The act of holding someone else responsible for the consequences when your AI system fails.
accuracy (n) - Technical correctness. The most important measure of success in evaluating an AI model’s performance. See validation.
adversary (n) - A lone engineer capable of disrupting your powerful revenue-generating AI system. See robustness, security.
Absolutely spot on. The author demonstrates that she has had to deal with bureaucracies and knows how to work around them. Sort of a Devil's Dictionary but for computer science instead of general culture.
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