Google is launching a new advisory council of eight researchers and experts to provide outside input as it develops artificial intelligence for a range of applications, including facial recognition. The so-called Advanced Technology External Advisory Council will help Google “question our assumptions and develop our thinking on AI,” chief legal officer and SVP of global affairs Kent Walker said at an MIT Technology Review conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. The group will complement the public AI principles that Google released last summer in the wake of internal and external controversy about its partnership with the Pentagon to use AI to analyze drone footage. After thousands of employees signed a petition urging Google not to engage in the “business of war,” the company ultimately decided not renew its contract, and subsequently released its principles, which include broad-strokes mandates, such as a stipulation that its AI won’t be used for weapons or surveillance. Google also formed a “responsible innovation team” internally that Walker says has reviewed hundreds of launches to date, some of which have aligned with its principles while others haven’t. For example, that team helped Google make the decision not to sell facial recognition technology until there has been more ethical and policy debate on the issue. This new council, which includes digital ethics expert Luciano Floridi, former diplomat William Joseph Burns, and automation startup CEO Dyan Gibbons, among others, will help drive those conversations. The group will formally meet with Google four times in 2019; the company will publish a report summarizing their discussions. "We want to have the most informed and thoughtful conversations we can," Walker said. "We want to sit down with the council and see what agenda they want to set." Rashida Richardson, director of policy research at AI Now Institute, who appeared on a panel with Walker, expressed skepticism about the ambiguousness of Google and other companies’ AI principles. For example, Google’s document leans heavily on the word “appropriate.” “Who is defining what appropriate means?” she asked. Walker said Google's new council is meant to foster more defined discussion. He added that the company had over 300 people looking at machine learning fairness issues. "We’re doing our best to put our money where our mouth is,” he said. Google has previously had embarrassing technology mishaps driven by bias in its machine learning systems, like when its photos algorithm labeled black people as gorillas.
Google is establishing an ethical Technology External Advisory Council as it develops an ethical approach to AI governance . The move follows last year 's public release of Google ’s AI principles following the firm 's exit from a controversial deal with the Pentagon . That began when thousands of employees urged the company not to " engage in the business of war " . The advisory council will comprise eight researchers and experts who will meet four times in 2019 .