WIRED spoke with the Zoomer founders of a platform where AI agents hire humans to do real-world tasks. Their pitch: People would love to have a clanker as their boss. For centuries, people have catastrophized about robots taking away jobs. On February 1, the paradigm shifted: bots are jobs. Now, 518,284 humans--and rapidly counting--are offering their labor to AI agents on a new online marketplace called RentAHuman . There are classifieds to count pigeons in Washington ($30/hour); deliver CBD gummies ($75/hour); play exhibition badminton ($100/hour); and anything else you could possibly imagine that a disembodied agent couldn't do.

The artificial intelligence (AI) program was able to produce pieces of writing indistinguishable from those created by quite skilled human writers. Many asked whether the emergence of such programs spelled the end of journalism as a human profession. There are other disciplines previously reserved for talented humans that today's AI can comfortably tackle. It can write songs that mimic the sound of famous pop stars or create paintings in the style of great masters of the past. In engineering, architecture and design, a new type of AI-based software emerged, capable of creating a multitude of solutions to a problem in a short period based on predefined criteria.

For many years, something called "quality of worklife" was front and center for many enterprises, especially leaders in the HR sector. The reasoning was that a high-quality worklife (with lots of flexibility and sense of ownership) leads to corporate growth. Lately, the topic has begun to gain more attention, especially as automaton and artificial intelligence has taken root, threatening to mechanize many tasks and upend jobs. Researchers at Stanford and Arizona State Universities, for one, have been able to back up the assertion that worklife quality equals growth. "Cities with greater increases in AI-related job postings exhibited greater economic growth."

Guidelines for the responsible and effective procurement of artificial intelligence by governments to better meet the needs of citizens and enhance public servicesThe challenge Artificial intelligence (AI) holds the potential to vastly improve government operations and help meet the needs of citizens in new ways, ranging from traffic management to healthcare delivery to processing tax forms. But most public institutions have not yet adopted this powerful technology. While public sector officials are increasingly aware of the transformational impact of data and AI-powered solutions, the data needed for AI solutions to be developed and deployed is often neither accessible nor discoverable. Public sector officials may also lack the appropriate knowledge and expertise to make strategic buying decisions for AI-powered tools. Uncertainty about ethical considerations adds further layers of complexity. As a result, officials tend to delay buying decisions, or reduce perceived risk by concentrating their purchasing on a few known suppliers. The opportunity The World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought together a multistakeholder community to co-design the AI Procurement in a Box toolkit guide for governments to rethink their public procurement processes:  IntroductionGuidelines for AI procurement, presenting the general considerations to be taken when government is procuring AI-powered solutionsWorkbook for policy and procurement officials guiding them through the guidelines ChallengesPilot case studiesThis guidance aims to empower government officials to more confidently make responsible AI purchasing decisions. The tools also improve the experience for AI solutions providers by supporting the creation of transparent and innovative public procurement processes that meet their needs. Impact By co-designing these guidelines with governments, small and large businesses, civil society and academia, the intended impact is the responsible deployment of AI solutions for the public benefit of constituents. Leveraging the significant purchasing power of government in the market, the private-sector adoption of the guidelines can permeate the industry beyond the adoption by public sector organizations. Embedding the principles advocated for in the guidelines into administrative processes will also expand opportunities for new entrants and create a more competitive environment for the ethical development of AI. Further, as industry debates its own standards on these technologies, the government’s influence can help set a baseline for the harmonization of standards-setting. Project accomplishments  March–September 2019: Policy development – the World Economic Forum worked with fellows from the public and private sectors, and a multistakeholder group that also included academia and civil society organizations, to create action-orientated guidelines for government procurement of AI. October–March 2020: Pilot and Iteration – the project team validated guidelines through feedback sessions and a pilot project with the United Kingdom government, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and the Government of Bahrain. June 2020: Publication of the AI Procurement in a Box guide that will allow governments to effectively learn and adopt the best practices developed.Contact information For more information, contact Kay Firth-Butterfield, Head of AI and Machine Learning, World Economic Forum, at Kay.Firth-Butterfield@weforum.org.

The World Economic Forum and associate partner Appen are wrestling with the thorny issue of how to create artificial intelligence with a sense of ethics. Their main area of focus is to design standards and best practices for responsible training data used in building machine learning and AI applications. It has already been a long process and continues. "A solid training data platform and management strategy is often the most critical component of launching a successful, responsible machine learning-powered product into production," said Mark Brayan, CEO of Appen in a statement. Appen has been providing training data to companies building AI for more than 20 years.

At Transform's second annual Women in AI Breakfast presented by Capital One and Intel, powerful women from tech companies across the industry gathered to talk about how women, particularly women of color, can take their seats at the table in the technology industry. "Much has been written about the industry's pipeline problem, and how we can increase diversity in tech companies," said Carla Saavedra Kochalski, director of conversational AI and messaging products at Capital One who provided opening remarks. "Many say they don't hire women or people of color candidates because there aren't enough qualified candidates. And it's true -- there are fewer of women than men with computer science degrees." But what if that low number is more of a symptom, than a cause?

The challenge Artificial intelligence (AI) holds the potential to vastly improve government operations and help meet the needs of citizens in new ways, ranging from traffic management to healthcare delivery to processing tax forms. But most public institutions have not yet adopted this powerful technology. While public sector officials are increasingly aware of the transformational impact of data and AI-powered solutions, the data needed for AI solutions to be developed and deployed is often neither accessible nor discoverable. Public sector officials may also lack the appropriate knowledge and expertise to make strategic buying decisions for AI-powered tools. Uncertainty about ethical considerations adds further layers of complexity. As a result, officials tend to delay buying decisions, or reduce perceived risk by concentrating their purchasing on a few known suppliers. The opportunity The World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought together a multistakeholder community to co-design the AI Procurement in a Box toolkit guide for governments to rethink their public procurement processes:  IntroductionGuidelines for AI procurement, presenting the general considerations to be taken when government is procuring AI-powered solutionsWorkbook for policy and procurement officials guiding them through the guidelines ChallengesPilot case studiesThis guidance aims to empower government officials to more confidently make responsible AI purchasing decisions. The tools also improve the experience for AI solutions providers by supporting the creation of transparent and innovative public procurement processes that meet their needs. Impact By co-designing these guidelines with governments, small and large businesses, civil society and academia, the intended impact is the responsible deployment of AI solutions for the public benefit of constituents. Leveraging the significant purchasing power of government in the market, the private-sector adoption of the guidelines can permeate the industry beyond the adoption by public sector organizations. Embedding the principles advocated for in the guidelines into administrative processes will also expand opportunities for new entrants and create a more competitive environment for the ethical development of AI. Further, as industry debates its own standards on these technologies, the government’s influence can help set a baseline for the harmonization of standards-setting. Project accomplishments  March–September 2019: Policy development – the World Economic Forum worked with fellows from the public and private sectors, and a multistakeholder group that also included academia and civil society organizations, to create action-orientated guidelines for government procurement of AI. October–March 2020: Pilot and Iteration – the project team validated guidelines through feedback sessions and a pilot project with the United Kingdom government, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority and the Government of Bahrain. June 2020: Publication of the AI Procurement in a Box guide that will allow governments to effectively learn and adopt the best practices developed. Contact information For more information, contact Kay Firth-Butterfield, Head of AI and Machine Learning, World Economic Forum, at Kay.Firth-Butterfield@weforum.org.

"With AI," Cisco's Joseph Bradley said, "we're at a crossroads for a new kind of moral compass of human equality, at a level literally of the civil rights movement. Because when you think of the number of people that AI can impact and the speed at which it drives decisions, you understand how important it is for us to get it right." That importance will only grow, as artificial intelligence and machine learning take over key decisions in everything from enterprises and public safety to battlefields and operating rooms. Depending on how it's developed and deployed, AI can support a future that's inclusive, sustainable, and rife with opportunity for even for the most disadvantaged in society. Or it can widen the divide, eliminating jobs and basing key decisions on biased programming.

How should government and society come together to address the challenge of regulating artificial intelligence? What approaches and tools will promote innovation, protect society from harm and build public trust in AI? Artificial intelligence (AI) is a key driver of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Algorithms are already being applied to improve predictions, optimize systems and drive productivity in many other sectors. However, early experience shows that AI can create serious challenges. Without proper oversight, AI may replicate or even exacerbate human bias and discrimination, cause potential job displacement, and lead to other unintended and harmful consequences.

The value of building data-driven businesses with AI at their core is well known today, and business executives are rushing to implement the technology into their operations and gain a competitive advantage, but it's not as simple as creating a data lake and crafting AI models. A large number of AI companies attempting to implement more AI models or build AI-first businesses have experienced challenges. A December 2018 PwC survey found that only 4% of businesses have successfully implemented AI. That's why today the World Economic Forum released the AI toolkit for Boards of Directors. The AI toolkit for Boards of Directors is being released ahead of the annual WEF meeting in Davos, Switzerland where the toolkit will be formally debuted next week.