Top tech firms have formed an AI supergroup to make sure robots are good

The world's top tech firms, including Google's DeepMind, Facebook and Amazon, have formed the tech equivalent of a musical supergroup, joining forces to ensure the ethical development of artificial intelligence and "advance public understanding" of the technology which is increasingly working its way into our lives. The group, Partnership on AI, will connect academics, policy experts, and non-profits alongside businesses, which also include Microsoft and IBM, to hot house best practice in the burgeoning technology being used to help solve world health problems and reduce energy consumption - an industry expected to be worth 9.2bn by 2019. "The objective of the Partnership on AI is to address opportunities and challenges with AI technologies to benefit people and society," the group said, outlining its goals. "Together, the organisation's members will conduct research, recommend best practices, and publish research under an open license in areas such as ethics, fairness, and inclusivity; transparency, privacy, and interoperability; collaboration between people and AI systems; and the trustworthiness, reliability, and robustness of the technology. It does not intend to lobby government or other policymaking bodies." The five tech groups will fund the project as well as provide resources for research and expects more experts and groups working on AI technology to join the partnership in future.