What engineers can do to help ensure artificial intelligence is ethical - Create

Professor Toby Walsh is a top artificial intelligence (AI) researcher and a vocal advocate for a national and international ban on autonomous weapons, or killer robots. As the technology becomes a more important part of our lives, engineers also need to discuss the issues and impacts introduced by "more mundane" applications such as facial recognition and news algorithms, Walsh told create. "There are some important ethical dimensions to the way [the technology] is being used and how it will impact our lives," he said. To this end, CSIRO is seeking input on a discussion paper titled Artificial Intelligence: Australia's Ethics Framework. The paper, which Walsh helped review, identifies ways to "achieve the best possible results from AI, while keeping the well-being of Australians as the top priority".