PHOTOGRAPHY: DAN BURN-FORTI039 STARTTerah Lyons is working to ensure
artificial intelligence doesn’t
forget to keep humans at its heartMeet AI’sconscienceerah Lyons’s job is making sure
that AI works for everyone. In October
2017, Lyons, a former White House
advisor on technology and machine
intelligence, started her tenure as an
executive director at The Partnership
on AI. Launched the previous year
by a group of tech titans – Amazon,
Facebook, Google, DeepMind, Microsoft
and IBM – by 2017 the organisation
had already grown to include about
50 members, including non-profits,
charities and universities. (As of
September 2019, the partnership had
grown to encompass 89 stakeholders
from 13 countries.) The partnership’s
main aim was to develop a rulebook for
the conscientious use of artificial intel-
ligence, and Lyons had taken the helm
exactly at the time when a vast chunk
of the public had become convinced
that thrashing out some rules to rein
in Big Tech was more urgent than ever.
“The partnership was born into a worldin which AI was at the height of the
public narrative. And the scrutiny of
the technology industry that comes
alongside that is a necessary part of a
public movement to understand how
technology is shaping our lives,” Lyons
says. “It was really productive to have
a forcing function for that discussion.”
Since Lyons stepped in, the organ-
isation has produced several studies,
reports and recommendations on
hot-button topics such as algorithmic
decisions in the criminal justice system- about which the partnership proposed
a set of standards that, while not legally
enforceable, might help companies
developing predictive policing tools
ask themselves the right questions.
And Lyons thinks there is some
intrinsic value in bringing together
entities from disparate corners of
the globe to make AI safe, fair and
conducive to the social good. The model
is reminiscent of what has historically
occurred in other critical technological
fields. “This happened, for instance,
with nuclear energy – with coalitions
of competing organisations banding
together,” Lyons says. That can help
build bridges across geopolitical
divides – as evidenced by the presence
of several Chinese companies among
the partners. “But what’s really different
about The Partnership on AI is that we
really are a multi-stakeholder entity,”
Lyons explains. “It’s not just about the
tech behemoths working hand-in-hand,
but also about the voices of advocates
and institutions that are pushing
back to protect the public interest.”
Gian Volpicelli partnershiponai.orgT11-19-STTerahLyons.indd 39 17/09/2019 17:22