Artificial intelligence needs guardrails

With the recent launch of the website AI.gov as "Artificial Intelligence for the American People," AI will clearly be an integral part of our future. While some may still wonder, "what can AI do for us?," many more may be asking, "what can AI do to us?" given some recent tragic events. The crashes of the Boeing 737 MAXs and Uber and Tesla's self-driving car fatalities point to AI's unintended consequences and highlight how technologists as well as users of AI have both fallen short at making proper guardrails in deploying AI technology. People often think of AI as the panacea that will enable technology to solve our most pressing problems. In that way, AI brings to mind a seeming panacea of an earlier age: aspirin.