Lintilä urges enterprises to use AI ethically

Finland’s Artificial Intelligence Programme challenges enterprises to commit to the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI), said Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä.

It encourages enterprises to draw up their own ethical principles for AI that would guide how AI is applied and developed in the enterprises in fair and trust-building ways. At first, the aim is to get at least 300 enterprises sign up for the challenge, said an official press release.

“The use of AI will increase and become everyday practice in enterprises at a fast pace. This trend also raises concerns about whether the new technology respects our values. Finland’s Artificial Intelligence Programme aims to make AI a success factor for Finnish enterprises, and having a set of ethical principles is an asset for a responsible business,” said the minister.

Enterprises can sign up for the challenge at the website of the Artificial Intelligence Programme at aiera.fi. K Group, OP Group and Stora Enso have already joined the challenge. They were also ideating the challenge.

“We will help enterprises start working on how trust and accountability can guide the development of AI solutions. Three enterprises have already joined the challenge. Our goal is that at least 30 enterprises have signed up for the challenge by the kick-off event in early October and 300 by the end of the year,” said Lintilä.

AI applications raise a number of ethical concerns. It is important to ensure that the decisions made by AI do not discriminate against anyone or put their safety at risk. The data we use to train AI should be unbiased.

The Artificial Intelligence Programme will help enterprises start their ethics work by offering a five-step approach to drawing up ethical principles for AI and by giving examples of existing principles. A kick-off event will be organised for enterprises interested in the ethical application of AI in Helsinki on 5 October 2018.

“The kick-off event will take place just before the Ministerial Conference on AI Forum 2018 where European ministers and AI experts will be discussing European competitiveness in the age of AI. In my view, Europe’s strength lies in building trust and confidence. Together with enterprises we can make Finland a model country in the ethical application of AI,” said the minister.