AI firms 'should include members of public on boards to protect society'

Companies developing powerful artificial intelligence systems must have independent board members representing the "interests of society", according to an expert regarded as one of the modern godfathers of the technology. Yoshua Bengio, a co-winner of the 2018 Turing Award – referred to as the "Nobel prize of computing" – said AI firms must have oversight from members of the public, as advances in the technology accelerate rapidly. Speaking in the wake of the boardroom upheaval at the ChatGPT developer OpenAI, including the exit and return of its chief executive, Sam Altman, Bengio said a "democratic process" was needed to monitor developments in the field. "How do we make sure that these advances are happening in a way that doesn't endanger the public? How do we make sure that they're not abused for increasing one's power?" the AI pioneer told the Guardian. "To me, the answer is obvious in principle.