Social and ethical audits are common place in many industries, especially those where products are being manufactured and where the factories are based in countries considered to be higher risk. Working hours, modern slavery and workplace safety are some of the items checked to help eradicate ethical issues from supply chains.
However, as this Harvard Business School article highlights, the spotlight should also be shone on the Big Tech companies and in fact any company that uses data as part of it's services.
Why is that?
Well …. using AI, data scientists can build algorithms that interpret massive amounts of data to present a summary decision or piece of insight. Whilst this can be amazing and transform our ability to make decisions we have to remember:
- These decisions can have a significant impact on a company or an individual.
- These algorithms and the data sets they are based on may include bias - which if not monitored could propagate inaccuracies and biases that may target certain groups unfairly….
And because it's a digital service then any ethical issues these algorithms / decisions create could scale to a huge volume of people.
As a side note…. I asked ChatGPT “How could AI support the auditing of ethical issues and biases which may be built into an algorithm?”.
Not surprisingly it came up with some sensible ideas that suggested AI would be a good solution to the auditing approach.
Even better though, it suggested that “It's important to note that while AI can be a valuable tool in auditing algorithms, human oversight and expertise remain essential. ”
Sometimes the pace of change needs to be kept in check……..
Uhakiki wa kijamii na wa maadili ni jambo la kawaida katika viwanda vingi, hasa zile ambapo bidhaa zinatengenezwa na ambapo viwanda viko katika nchi zinazoonwa kuwa hatari zaidi. Saa za kazi, utumwa wa kisasa na usalama wa mahali pa kazi ni baadhi ya vitu vilivyochunguzwa kusaidia kuondoa masuala ya maadili kutoka kwa minyororo ya usambazaji. Hata hivyo, kama makala hii ya Harvard Business School inaonyesha, mwangaza unapaswa pia kuangazwa kwenye makampuni makubwa ya teknolojia na kwa kweli kampuni yoyote inayotumia data kama sehemu ya huduma zake. Kwa nini hilo? Kwa hiyo.... Kwa kutumia AI, wanasayansi wa data wanaweza kujenga algorithms ambazo zinafafanua kiasi kikubwa cha data ili kuwasilisha uamuzi wa muhtasari au kipande cha ufahamu. Ingawa hii inaweza kuwa ya kushangaza na kubadilisha uwezo wetu wa kufanya maamuzi tunapaswa kukumbuka: - Maamuzi haya yanaweza kuwa na athari kubwa kwa kampuni au mtu binafsi. - Hizi algorithms na seti za data wao ni msingi juu ya inaweza ni pamoja na upendeleo - ambayo kama si kufuatiliwa inaweza kueneza ukosefu wa usahihi na upendeleo ambayo inaweza lengo makundi fulani unfairly.... Kwa sababu hii ni huduma ya dijiti, suala lolote la maadili linaloundwa na maamuzi haya ya algorithms linaweza kupanuka kwa idadi kubwa ya watu. Kama maelezo ya upande.... "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""Kuna uwezekano mkubwa kwamba AI inaweza kusaidia katika ukaguzi wa masuala ya maadili na upendeleo ambao unaweza kujengwa katika algorithm.""" Kwa hivyo, haishangazi kwamba ilikuja na mawazo ya busara ambayo yalidokeza AI ingekuwa suluhisho nzuri kwa mbinu ya ukaguzi. Hata bora ingawa, ni alipendekeza kwamba <unk>Ni muhimu kutambua kwamba wakati AI inaweza kuwa chombo muhimu katika ukaguzi algorithms, usimamizi wa binadamu na utaalam kubaki muhimu. <unk> Wakati mwingine kasi ya mabadiliko inahitaji kudumishwa katika kuangalia........