Google has apparently updated its public artificial intelligence ethics policy, eliminating a prior commitment not to use the technology for developing surveillance and weapons applications.
The previous version of the ethics policy explicitly listed categories of applications the company would refrain from pursuing such as “weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people,” and “technologies that gather or use information for surveillance violating internationally accepted norms.”
Now, those items have been removed from this list in the policy, according to multiple outlets.
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In a blog post released this week by leaders of Google’s AI efforts, the company stated that published AI frameworks have deepened the "understanding of AI potential and risks."
They added that global competition for AI leadership is increasingly complex in the geopolitical landscape. The post concluded by asserting that "democracies should lead in AI development guided by core values like freedom, equality and human rights."
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