Intelligent Technology Can Give Ethical Guidance

Hey Robot, is AI a good thing? Accenture employees can now anonymously ask a new internal chatbot questions on the ethical guidelines for deploying a client's artificial intelligence programs. Called COBE, Accenture's chatbot can also address the proper use of social media or employee interactions in the workplace, the global consulting firm announced Dec. 20. Users can interact with COBE--an acronym for Code of Business Ethics, from which it was transformed--via instant message. Accenture designed COBE as more employees and clients encounter a host of ethical questions amid their increasing work on artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and other new technologies.