If Machines Take Over, Who Will Be in Charge?

We are hurtling toward a future where machines are taking over and, as speakers Tuesday noted, there aren't many brakes in place. Nine tech companies, including Alphabet Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., are largely deciding the direction of artificial-intelligence research and implementation, said Amy Webb, founder of the Future Today Institute. "There's no switch, and nobody is in charge," Ms. Webb said. That limited group is introducing human biases into algorithms, warned Kate Crawford, co-founder of AI Now Research Institute. "In some ways, the people designing these systems are the least well-trained to think about the problems," she said.