This weekend, more than 50 top thinkers, government officials at all levels, and AI participants from around the world, including IBM, Facebook, Amazon, and the United Nations, quietly held a closed-door meeting to discuss the challenges AI brings to human society and try to find solution. The meeting did not reach fruitful results, but it could be the beginning of a global collective governance of AI.
When humans are no longer the most intelligent creatures on earth, people's worries begin.
This weekend, a one-person closed-door meeting on the global governance of artificial intelligence was quietly held. The meeting brought together more than 50 of the world's top thinkers, government officials at all levels, and AI participants, including IBM, Facebook, Amazon, and the United Nations. Although the topic is slightly cliché - How to govern artificial intelligence - but the sparks that collided in the debate of more than 50 people show various prospects for the future.
When artificial intelligence is still in its infancy, a group of people are starting to think about how to govern, which should be considered a relatively forward-looking good thing.
Closed-door meeting of more than 50 people: the world's top talents discuss AI global governance
In October last year, the UAE made a world sensation by appointing 27-year-old Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama as the country's first artificial intelligence minister. Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama's responsibilities include investing in the latest artificial intelligence technology and applying it to various industries to improve government efficiency.
Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama
The roundtable was co-organized by the UAE Ministry of Artificial Intelligence, led by the young minister, and the AI Initiative for Future Societies at Harvard Kennedy School , which was founded in 2015 and brings together students, research, and research from Harvard and beyond. People, alumni, faculty, and experts whose mission is to help shape the global AI policy framework.
Key functions of the AI Initiative
The main goal of the roundtable is to address the challenges and opportunities in global governance brought about by AI and to ensure that countries can safely advance AI development.
据国外媒体Futurism报道，出席这次闭门圆桌会议的人，包括从IBM到Facebook，从亚马逊到联合国的顶级专家学者、政府官员和其他AI领域的参与者，人数超过50人。
由于是闭门会议，尚不清楚是否有中国相关人员参加。
政府必须行动：每个国家都应该设立“人工智能部长”
因为是讨论人工智能的全球治理，所以大家先把政府批判了一番。
人工智能在几乎所有可以想象的行业里都有着无尽的潜力，而且越来越成为人们日常生活的一部分，AI技术已经在诸如法律和医学等领域发挥了重要作用。
但是，拖后腿的是监管层，并且缺乏适当的指导。
一位参会人员说，政府需要加快行动。另一位也同意，他指出国家必须认识到，人工智能正在每天创造一个更快、更高效的世界，“政府必须知道，今天是它们余生中最慢的一天。”剩下的人纷纷表示同意。
随后，这个话题转向政府官员如何加速人工智能的利用。 “你需要像迪拜那样的人事部长。”一名专家小组成员说。
这话说来容易，任命一位部长也不麻烦，但如果你任命了一个人工智能部长，那为什么不任命一个DNA部长？或者一个区块链部长？与会者认为真正的解决方案应该细化，并非不是那么宏大。
专家组给出的替代解决方案，大多需要经过长时间的考验，例如利用投资激发或鼓励创新并加速人工智能开发。但是，有些人对使用这种方案持谨慎态度，他们担心这样的举动会导致政府缺乏监督和控制，这是该组织（AI Initiative）试图减轻而不是增加的问题。
针对政府缓慢的态度，一位小组成员问道：“政府在创新方面落后于行业，是因为人工智能造成的风险太多了吗？”
另一个人认为，政府应该完全开放每一个领域，并结束监管。这种观点获得一部分人同意，但也有不少人指出，完全开放带来了一系列全新的问题。正如一位小组成员指出的那样，完全开放可能并不明智，因为它也会让不法分子参与进来。因此，有人认为，政府只需要激励特定的任务，并且只提供对特定领域的开放。
那么问题是，我们如何做到这一点？谁决定激励什么？谁决定开放权限？
最直观的答案可能是：设置人工智能部长。
分歧很多，言辞激烈：达不成共识就是B.S.（Bull Sh*t）
这次圆桌会议的目标是制定一个国家路线图，会上讨论了很多议题，其中包括普遍的价值观、伦理与道德、国际合作等。
在会议的一个环节上，重点讨论的是如何制定人工智能的规则，一个专家小组成员暗示，大家价值观应该是普遍一致的。 他认为，建立一套治理人工智能的基本道德规范真的不应该成为一个问题。 “人类的道德是一个，不是十个。我的意思是，没有人认为把杀人当成好的（道德）。”
一位同行小组成员指出，尽管道德伦理的普遍性在理论上存在，但它只存在于理论上，现实中要复杂得多。“比如一旦我们开始谈论隐私权，每个人都有一个非常不同的看法。”他还强调了国家如何重视我们认为最基本和最基本的事物，比如人类生活的不同方面。“一旦我们开始考虑妇女和少数民族的权利，各国就不同意了。”
其他人则表示，只要各方继续保持发展的目标——稳定就业、发展经济、提高政府效率、节约资源保护环境、满足投资者——就不需要达成什么共识了。“我们想说什么，我们真的看重共同价值观？”一个恼怒的人问道，“在我们达成这个共识之前，所有这些谈判都只是B.S.（Bull Sh*t）”。
后来，议题转向该由谁来领导人工智能的监管工作，这一点上，依旧不能达成一致。
"Do we really want to say it's about the 'world'?" It was said that since a large part of the planet was not represented, the meeting did not have the right to talk about the 'world'. "I don't know how many people came from the southern hemisphere, thank goodness we had a Japanese, otherwise we would all be Westerners."
One panellist noted that building a global governance body is impossible now, and "what we should be pushing for is more international cooperation."
But others disagree: "So you don't think it's necessary to have a cohesive whole for everything that's going on?"
The answer: "I think the establishment of a global organization would be beneficial in some ways, but it is too early."
Another person who has observed the dialogue many times succinctly summed up a consensus, noting that we still have a long way to go before we start speaking on international cooperation in the name of authority. "I'm not sure if we are ready for global governance, we still have a lot of research going on."
AI Global Governance: We lack solutions, but not lack interest
There was dismay in both the words and the faces of the attendees. Some panelists pointed out that it is too late to do many things, such as the frequent public data leaks in the United States in recent years.
No solution to the AI governance problem was proposed at this conference, because AI is really too young, and there are still many uncertain things going on. In fact, the main problem of this meeting is "only problems, problems, problems", there is no plan.
These conversations, as heated as they were, proved that while we currently lack solutions, we are not lacking in interest.
At the end of the conversation, one of the panelists took note, his voice tinged with hope. "The number of technical papers and startups has exploded in recent years." It's all fantastic, he says, but overall AI is still small, and we still have a chance to develop solutions.
Despite the depressing results of the meeting, one thing is clear: If the government is going to build an AI future society, there are more than fifty of the world's brightest brains in this room at their disposal.
Article source: Xinzhiyuan