Tech sector examines the risks and rewards of AI. How two paths converged at Northeastern’s London campus; Northeastern Global News, July 17, 2024

Patrick Daly, Northeastern Global News; Tech sector examines the risks and rewards of AI. How two paths converged at Northeastern’s London campus

"Tess Buckley boarded a plane from Canada to a country and continent she had never before stepped foot on, carrying just a suitcase and a dream.

Three years later, she is living in London and fulfilling her ambition of being an artificial intelligence ethicist in her job with techUK, the sector’s trade association, where she is charged with helping to ensure the advanced technology is used with the right intentions.

Tracy Woods was already a senior figure at tech firm Cognizant when she started asking the same type of questions about the responsible use of AI. Like Buckley, she too looked to texts and lessons of the past, some dating back thousands of years, to help her pursue the answers to some very modern questions.

Buckley and Woods may have come from opposite corners of the globe and been at different stages of their careers but they ended up at the same place: Northeastern University’s philosophy and AI graduate program in London." 

Northeastern researchers team up with Accenture to offer a road map for artificial intelligence ethics oversight; Northeastern University, August 29, 2019

Khalida Sarwari, Northeastern University; Northeastern researchers team up with Accenture to offer a road map for artificial intelligence ethics oversight

"Now, Northeastern professors John Basl and Ron Sandler are offering organizations guidance for how to create a well-designed and effective committee based on similar models used in biomedical research. 

Maintaining that an ethics committee that is adequately resourced and thoughtfully designed can play an important role in mitigating digital risks and maintaining trust between an organization and the public, the researchers provide a framework for such a system in a new report produced in collaboration with global professional services company Accenture...

“If you want to build a committee that works effectively and if you really want to build ethical capacity within an organization, it’s a significant undertaking where you can’t just throw together a few people with ethical expertise,” says Sandler.

Added Basl: “We lay out the kinds of experts an organization will need—someone who knows local laws, someone who knows ethics, a variety of technical experts, and members of an affected community. Who those individuals are, or what their particular expertise is, depends on the kind of technology being developed and deployed.”"

Building data and AI ethics committees; Accenture.com, August 20, 2019

Accenture.com; Building data and AI ethics committees

"In brief

• Organizations face a difficult challenge when it comes to ethically-informed data collection, sharing and use.
• There is growing demand for incorporating ethical considerations into products and services involving big data, AI and machine learning.
• Outside of mere legal compliance, there is little guidance on how to incorporate this ethical consideration.
• To fill this gap, Northeastern University and Accenture explore the development of effective and well-functioning data and AI ethics committees."