The AI Dilemma

The misuse of AI has led to wrongful arrests, crashed airplanes, even genocide—this book offers 7 powerful principles that business can use now to end the harm.

Cambridge Analytica, the Boeing 737 Max crash, Facebook’s role in the Rohingya genocide—AI is increasingly implicated in serious abuses, misuses, and misfires. The technology stands accused of systematically doing harm without accountability. Drawing on research at Columbia University and Intel Labs, and illustrated with dozens of real-world examples, this book offers 7 principles for harnessing the power of AI to help humans flourish.

• Be Intentional About Risk— Use cost-benefit analysis to make sure short-term gains don’t put others—or your reputation—at risk
• Open the Closed Box— Enable every stakeholder to understand the logic and provenance of AI systems
• Reclaim Data Rights for People—Empower everyone to control their personal data
• Favor Loosely Coupled Architecture— Redesign AI teams and organizations to promote diverse thinking and flexible responses
• Confront and Question Bias—Ensure that algorithmic outcomes are ethical and fair to everyone affected by them
• Hold Stakeholders Accountable— Resolve the impediments that keep technology from being regulated effectively
• Embrace Creative Friction— Create an environment of trust, thoughtfulness and psychological safety to bring responsible AI into the future

This is a straightforward guide for business leaders, technologists, regulators and concerned citizens seeking to realize the promise of AI.