Seven AI ethics experts predict 2022's opportunities and challenges for the field

Just over one year ago, corporate AI ethics became a regular headline issue for the first time. In December 2020, Google had fired Timnit Gebru--one of its top AI ethics researchers--and in February 2021, it would terminate her ethics team co-lead, Margaret Mitchell. Though Google disputes their version of events, the terminations helped push some of the field's formerly niche debates to the forefront of the tech world. Every algorithm, whether it's dictating the contents of a social media feed or deciding if someone can secure a loan, could have real-world impacts and the potential to harm as much as it might help. Policymakers, tech companies, and researchers are all grappling with how best to address that fact, which has become impossible to ignore.