Rethinking Responsibility In The Age Of Generative AI
Understanding Businesses' Accountability In An AI-Driven World
On June 20, Aurelie Pols (AI Data Privacy Expert & Advisor) joined me on “What’s the BUZZ?” and shared how businesses can shape their accountability towards their customers when using generative AI. As AI's influence in our lives deepens, important questions arise about the potential harm and fairness of technology use.
Understanding these pressing issues, delving into the role of AI, the risk-based approach to tech deployment, the search for accountability, and the dynamic nature of ensuring tech safety are all important aspects that leaders looking to develop or deploy generative AI enabled systems need to consider. Here’s what we talked about…
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Accountability in AI: More Important Than Ever
Understanding generative AI as they adopt it is the next frontier for businesses to maintain customer trust and accountability. Generative AI revolutionizes interactions with customers by generating responses rather than just making predictions. This new form of engagement asks businesses to think more about their role and responsibility in how information is handled. Issues of accountability arise as the data flows become increasingly complex with text, images, videos, and more.
» The major challenge that we're going to face is to understand what are the different roles played within the different flows of information. Who is responsible for what? «
— Aurélie Pols
With GDPR in Europe, businesses are pushed to take responsibility for customer data. This trend also highlights the importance of user engagement in the conversation about responsibility, as they play a key role in shaping how their information is used and processed.
The GDPR Effect: Increasing Accountability in Businesses
One area businesses need to focus on more is considering the potential consequences and harm that technology can bring. As companies increasingly adopt AI, questions about fairness and discrimination arise, especially with issues around facial recognition technology. Companies need to think about the risks associated with their technology and how to mitigate them. With the GDPR in Europe, businesses are held accountable for their actions and are pushed to consider the risk to their customers and collaborators. Looking at potential harms and coming up with solutions forms the basis for responsible technology use.
Understanding the Roles and Responsibilities in AI Implementation
The process of holding businesses accountable for their AI technology's decisions is complex. The degree of acceptability of automated decisions varies based on the impact it has on the individual.
» As we all jump onto this bandwagon, and we also hear doomsday scenarios, we just need to stop and say, okay, where are potential harms?And how am I going to mitigate for that? Is it possible? Maybe up to a certain point: Yes. Maybe up to a certain point: Also no. «
— Aurélie Pols
For instance, predicting a preference for a strawberry yogurt might be harmless, but predicting mental health issues might have serious consequences. Companies need to understand their role and responsibility in shaping the user experience and the potential consequences of their technology. This responsibility lies not just with the creators of the technology, but also those who decide how to use it.
Navigating the New Frontier
As businesses embrace the revolution of generative AI, accountability becomes more critical than ever. Companies need to understand their role in how information is processed and the potential consequences of their technology. Moreover, user engagement plays a significant role in shaping data use. Furthermore, the risk and potential harm that technology might bring are important considerations for businesses. With regulatory frameworks like the GDPR, businesses are pushed to think about their actions' implications and consider the risks to their customers and collaborators.
Listen to this episode on the podcast: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
What’s next?
Appearances
July 10 - Monday Morning Data Chat with Joe Reis & Matt Housley on whether your business should chase generative AI.
Join us for the upcoming episodes of “What’s the BUZZ?”
July 6 - Abi Aryan, Machine Learning Engineer & LLMOps Expert, will share how you can fine-tune and operate large language models in practice.
August 1 - Scott Taylor, aka “The Data Whisperer”, will let us in on how effective storytelling help you get AI project funded.
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Together, let’s turn hype into outcome. 👍🏻
—Andreas