Entrusting important decisions to a system that can't explain itself presents obvious dangers. Take the case of Eric Loomis, a Wisconsin man sentenced to six years in prison for eluding police while driving a car that had been used in a drive-by shooting. The judge's sentence was based in part on a risk score for Loomis generated by COMPAS, a commercial risk-assessment tool used, according to one study, "to assess more than 1 million offenders" in the last two decades. Loomis appealed his sentence, based on the court's use of the AI-generated risk score, because it relied on a proprietary algorithm whose exact methodology is unknown. COMPAS is designed to estimate an individual's likelihood of committing another crime in the future, but evidence suggests that it may be no better at predicting risk than untrained observers.

Google's machine-learning tool is being used to detect and combat illegal deforestation The news: Rainforest Connection, a San Francisco nonprofit, has developed a cheap, rigorous acoustic monitoring system made from modified cell phones and solar panels. An app on the so-called Guardian devices, which can be hidden in trees throughout forests, continuously listens for the telltale signs of illegal logging and animal poaching. On March 21, the organization announced that it will be using Google's TensorFlow, a free tool that makes it simpler for other companies and groups to develop machine-learning software (see "Google stakes its future on a piece of software"). Rainforest Connection says it will enable the organization to more accurately detect troubling sounds in the uploaded audio, such as chainsaws, vehicles, and gunshots. Deforestation reduces biodiversity, increases erosion, and promotes desertification.

As we empower machines to make critical decisions about who can access vital opportunities, we need to prevent discriminatory outcomes. After all, machine learning is only a tool. The responsibility falls on people use it wisely – especially the people leading the way in its advancement, from corporate leaders down to system engineers. In other words, we need to design and use ML applications in a way that not only improves business efficiency but also promotes and protects human rights. But the nature of ML technology – its ubiquitousness, complexity, exclusiveness and opaqueness – can amplify longstanding problems related to unequal access to opportunities.

Actor Danny Trejo, shown here in 2014, produced the documentary Survivors Guide To Prison, which focuses on injustices within the criminal justice system. Actor Danny Trejo, shown here in 2014, produced the documentary Survivors Guide To Prison, which focuses on injustices within the criminal justice system. Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. Danny Trejo On Acting, Addiction And Playing'The Mean Chicano Dude': Trejo says that his experience standing in the San Quentin prison yard waiting for a riot prepared him for acting: "You're absolutely scared to death ... [but] you have to pretend you're not."

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Brad Smith is Microsoft's President and Chief Legal Officer. Harry Shum is the Executive Vice President of Microsoft AI and Research Group. They've teamed to write this foreword for the company's new book. Twenty years ago, we both worked at Microsoft, but on opposite sides of the globe. In 1998, one of us was living and working in China as a founding member of the Microsoft Research Asia lab in Beijing. Five thousand miles away, the other was based at the company's headquarters, just outside of Seattle, leading the international legal and corporate affairs team. While we lived on separate continents and in quite different cultures, we shared a common workplace experience within Microsoft, albeit with differing routines before we arrived at the office. At that time in the United States, waking to the scent of brewing coffee was a small victory in technology automation. It meant that you had remembered to set the timer on the programmable coffee maker the night before. As you drank that first cup of coffee, you typically watched the morning news on a standard television or turned the pages of the local newspaper to learn what had happened while you slept.

It's not secret Amazon wants to leverage drones to help deliver packages. A recent patent might shed light on how the process could work. Amazon earned a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a drone system allowing the vehicle to react when someone waves their hands or shouts. The patent was first spotted by tech site Geekwire. When a drone recognizes a human gesture through one of its sensors, it will process it against a database of gestures then respond accordingly.

The daughter of the woman killed by an Uber self-driving vehicle in Arizona has retained a personal injury lawyer, underlying the potential high stakes of the first fatality caused by an autonomous vehicle. The law firm of Bellah Perez in Glendale, Arizona, said in a statement it was representing the daughter of Elaine Herzberg, who died on Sunday night after being hit by the Uber self-driving SUV in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe. The firm did not name her but DailyMail.com'As

Amazon's drones could soon have a way to deal with unhappy customers who aren't happy with their deliveries. The firm has filed a patent to embed sensors in its drones that could react to voice commands and hand movements. This means the UAVs could respond to people screaming, waving their hands and making frantic or rude gestures during a delivery. Based on customer reactions, the drones could release the package, change their flight path or ask the human down below a question about the delivery, the patent suggests. Entitled'Human interaction with unmanned aerial vehicles', the patent was issued to Amazon on 20 March by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Diagrams show the drone reading human body language with commands such as'Receive human gesture' and'access gesture database', writes Los Angeles Times.

The ethics of artificial intelligence will be critical to the success of AI going forward, a Microsoft leader and a keynote speaker at the AI Day event in Auckland next week says. Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of Microsoft's AI Business, says that given AI has the potential to reshape not just industries and governments, but society as a whole. "Working on the ethics of the use of AI, from the beginning, in key areas like transparency, accountability, privacy and bias will be crucial to the success of AI going forward. "There is a strong focus on the ethical implications of the AI systems that are being built and deployed." The European Commission's group on ethics in science and new technologies recently warned that existing efforts to develop solutions to the ethical, societal and legal challenges AI presents are a'patchwork of disparate initiatives'. It added that uncoordinated, unbalanced approaches in the regulation of AI risked ethics shopping, resulting in the relocation of AI development and use to regions with lower ethical standards. AI Day on March 28 is being organised by NewZealand.AI and the AI Forum NZ, which is part of the NZTech Alliance, bringing together 14 national tech communities, more than 500 organisations and more than 100,000 employees to help create a more prosperous New Zealand underpinned by technology. Guggenheimer says one important element around the adoption of AI is the focus on having AI help to amplify human capabilities and allow them to do more versus simply replacing people and functions. "As AI is adopted by various organisations we are starting to see a few trends occurring.