Dr Christopher Hobson, who is a Visiting Fellow at CCRC, has been awarded a one year grant by the Toshiba International Foundation for a research project entitled “Safely integrating AI into society”. The project will be undertaken in conjunction with the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, where Dr Hobson is a Senior Lecturer.
Building on previous work by Dr Hobson on technological accidents, this project will consider some of the major safety challenges posed by the further development and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in society. Given current trends, it is clear that AI and related technologies will become much more prevalent and widely used in the short to medium term. And one of the likely consequences of COVID-19 will be the speeding up and fast-tracking of many changes that were already coming in terms of the greater use of AI, big data, and related technologies.
As all this happens, the possibility of accidents increases, as does the scale of the potential damage. Considering this, it is important to consider how this transition can better be guided with greater attention given to AI safety and risk management. While there has been work on the longer-term risks of creating machines that are more intelligent than humans, there are far more immediate dangers that come from a greater reliance on machine learning, big data and related technologies, without sufficient safety measures in place. In exploring these problems, the project will be considering what lessons can be taken from the way other technological risks have been managed, most notably nuclear power.
Click here to view the announcement by College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University
For more information about the project, contact Dr Hobson:
christopher.hobson@anu.edu.au