The UN is calling for a moratorium on artificial intelligence systems "that pose a serious risk to human rights" until research and regulation has been done. It published a report today after concerns that countries and businesses are adopting AI without proper diligence. High commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet said that AI can be a "force for good" but stressed that it can still have a profoundly negative, "even catastrophic" effect if used without consideration.The report analyses the ways AI can affect human rights, including privacy, health, and education as well as freedom of movement, expression, and assembly. "Artificial intelligence now reaches into almost every corner of our physical and mental lives and even emotional states," Bachelet writes. "AI systems are used to determine who gets public services, decide who has a chance to be recruited for a job, and of course they affect what information people see and can share online."Bachelet's report says that because of its rapid growth, finding out how AI collects, stores, and uses data is "one of the most urgent human rights questions we face.""The risk of discrimination linked to AI-driven decisions—decisions that can change, define, or damage human lives—is all too real," the report continues. "This is why there needs to be systematic assessment and monitoring of the effects of AI systems to identify and mitigate human rights risks."The UN also calls for significantly more transparency from companies and countries that develop and use AI systems. It's important to note that the UN is not calling for an outright ban—no one got spooked by their latest viewing of The Terminator—just regulation and greater transparency. Bachelet says, "We cannot afford to continue playing catch-up regarding AI—allowing its use with limited or no boundaries or oversight, and dealing with the almost inevitable human rights consequences after the fact. The power of AI to serve people is undeniable, but so is AI's ability to feed human rights violations at an enormous scale with virtually no visibility. Action is needed now to put human rights guardrails on the use of AI, for the good of all of us."You can read the press release and full report on the UN's website.What effect this could have on videogames and similar technology is unclear, though the UN is obviously not talking about AI machine learning like Nvidia's DLSS or AI upscaling tech. One possible way this could affect videogames is if a company develops an AI system that learns how specific people play games and then use that data to present targeted microtransactions, ads, or other things to encourage you to spend money—similar to the method Activision patented in 2017. Whether the UN would consider that a violation of your rights is not something I can answer, but in the end, the report's call for regulation probably doesn't impact videogames in a meaningful way for players—even if you wish it would call to improve the AI in games like Cyberpunk 2077. 

The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence today released its report today with dozens of recommendations for President Joe Biden, Congress, and business and government leaders. China, the group said, represents the first challenge to U.S. technological dominance that threatens economic and military power for the first time since the end of World War II. The commissioners call for a $40 billion investment to expand and democratize AI research and development a "modest down payment for future breakthroughs", and encourage an attitude toward investment in innovation from policymakers akin that which led to building the interstate highway system in the 1950s. The report recommends several changes that could shape business, tech, and national security. For example, amid a global shortage of semiconductors, the report calls for the United States to stay "two generations ahead" of China in semiconductor manufacturing and suggests a hefty tax credit for semiconductor manufacturers.

LONDON – A U.K. parliamentary committee has released a report that highlights industrial automation in Japan, calling on the government to promote automation in British industries. Japan "has a long history of automation and is home to major robotics manufacturers," the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee wrote in the report published Wednesday, adding that the country is "the origin for half of robots sold globally." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration "has made a conscious choice to support automation as part of its'Abenomics' reforms, recognizing the need for continued growth and development of automation to enable the country to'drastically improve productivity,' " the report states. Referring to Japan's 2015 New Robot Strategy, the report urged the U.K. government to develop its own automation and artificial intelligence strategy by the end of 2020. The report cited an 2018 report by the International Federation of Robotics that ranked the U.K. in 22nd place in terms of robot density -- or the number of industrial robots per 10,000 workers.

The rise of machine intelligence has prompted policy wonks to weigh in with a list of caveats along with recommendations for preserving the American technology lead in AI and machine learning while initiating the process of managing future risks. The respected Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report on Thursday (March 1) calling for a national machine intelligence strategy. Underwritten by U.S. technology contractor Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH), the study takes a "look-before-you-leap" approach to machine intelligence development while advocating steps for maintaining the current U.S. lead. The report recommends "safe and responsible" development of machine intelligence by funding long-term R&D in areas the private sector has little incentive to invest. Along with risky, long term research, the government should focus on national security applications and "systems of ethics and control" akin to government agencies that help referee disputes over technology standards.

The many potential social and economic benefits from advances in AI-based technologies depend entirely on the environment in which these technologies evolve, says the Royal Society. According to a new report from the UK's science academy, urgent consideration needs to be given to the "careful stewardship" needed over the next ten years to ensure that the dividends from machine learning – the form of artificial intelligence that allows machines to learn from data – benefit all in UK society. Machine Learning: the power and promise of computers that learn by example, published today (25 April 2017), comes at a critical time in the rapid development and use of this technology, and the growing debate about how it will reshape the UK economy and people's lives. Crucially the report calls for research funding bodies to support a new wave of machine learning research that goes beyond technical challenges, and into areas aimed at addressing public confidence in machine learning – vital to the UK maintaining its internationally competitive edge at the forefront of this area. The report also offers the first evidence about the UK public's views on machine learning, including the application areas about which they are particularly positive, and the need for the real-world data feeding the growth of this technology to be dealt with fairly and securely.

The right to due process was inscribed into the US constitution with a pen. A new report from leading researchers in artificial intelligence cautions it is now being undermined by computer code. Public agencies responsible for areas such as criminal justice, health, and welfare increasingly use scoring systems and software to steer or make decisions on life-changing events like granting bail, sentencing, enforcement, and prioritizing services. The report from AI Now, a research institute at NYU that studies the social implications of artificial intelligence, says too many of those systems are opaque to the citizens they hold power over. The AI Now report calls for agencies to refrain from what it calls "black box" systems opaque to outside scrutiny. Kate Crawford, a researcher at Microsoft and cofounder of AI Now, says citizens should be able to know how systems making decisions about them operate and have been tested or validated.

The right to due process was inscribed into the US constitution with a pen. A new report from leading researchers in artificial intelligence cautions it is now being undermined by computer code. Public agencies responsible for areas such as criminal justice, health, and welfare increasingly use scoring systems and software to steer or make decisions on life-changing events like granting bail, sentencing, enforcement, and prioritizing services. The report from AI Now, a research institute at NYU that studies the social implications of artificial intelligence, says too many of those systems are opaque to the citizens they hold power over. The AI Now report calls for agencies to refrain from what it calls "black box" systems opaque to outside scrutiny. Kate Crawford, a researcher at Microsoft and cofounder of AI Now, says citizens should be able to know how systems making decisions about them operate and have been tested or validated.

"From Mary Shelley's Frankenstein's Monster to the classical myth of Pygmalion, through the story of Prague's Golem to the robot of Karel Čapek, who coined the word, people have fantasised about the possibility of building intelligent machines, more often than not androids with human features". This is not an excerpt from a book on the history of robots in literature, but the opening sentence of the brand new European Parliament report on Robotics. Beyond this anecdotal reference, this draft report attempts to answer a question: as the presence of robots in our societies is no longer a science-fiction fantasy, and with people interacting more and more with intelligent machines in their day-to-day lives, is the future of humanity threatened? While the European Commission does currently fund robotics projects, the EU lacks a common regulatory framework in this field. Against this backdrop, the legal affairs committee of the European Parliament, has been entrusted with the task of writing a report on the issue of robotics, and has elaborated policy recommendations for the European Commission.

As so often is the case, science fiction has become science fact. A report published by the Royal Society and the British Academy suggests that there should not be three but just one overarching principle to govern the intelligent machines that we will soon be living alongside: "Humans should flourish." According to Prof Dame Ottoline Leyser, who co-chairs the Royal Society's science policy advisory group, human flourishing should be the key to how intelligent systems governed. "This was the term that really encapsulated what we wanted to say," she told BBC News. "The thriving of people and communities needs to be put first, and we think Asimov's principles can be subsumed into that."

The many potential social and economic benefits from advances in AI-based technologies depend entirely on the environment in which these technologies evolve, says the Royal Society. According to a new report from the UK's science academy, urgent consideration needs to be given to the "careful stewardship" needed over the next ten years to ensure that the dividends from machine learning – the form of artificial intelligence that allows machines to learn from data – benefit all in UK society. Machine Learning: the power and promise of computers that learn by example, published today (25 April 2017), comes at a critical time in the rapid development and use of this technology, and the growing debate about how it will reshape the UK economy and people's lives. Crucially the report calls for research funding bodies to support a new wave of machine learning research that goes beyond technical challenges, and into areas aimed at addressing public confidence in machine learning – vital to the UK maintaining its internationally competitive edge at the forefront of this area. The report also offers the first evidence about the UK public's views on machine learning, including the application areas about which they are particularly positive, and the need for the real-world data feeding the growth of this technology to be dealt with fairly and securely.