Kathy Gibson reports – Ethics in artificial intelligence (AI) has been a long-running debate, but it is certainly not a new issue in the technology industry.
“The question of ethics has been around for decades, in different technology formats,” says Ahmed Mahomed, CEO of Datacentrix, participating in a panel discussion at the Datacentrix Showcase in Johannesburg today.
He explains that, at bottom, ethical leadership is about how communities and businesses apply technology. “And this is driven by the ethics in society in general.”
But companies cannot ignore a technology because they have questions about its ethics, Mahomed adds. “This allows the nefarious part of technology to flourish, and you’re not developing your own to balance it.”
AI is different to previous technologies, he adds, in that it promises to be a complete game-changer.
And, because cybercriminals are enthusiastically embracing AI to develop new attacks, Mahomed believes this is a compelling argument for business to use AI to keep ahead of them.
Clearly, there is a need for the legislative framework to catch up with the rapid advance of AI technology. “It’s clear that AI is going to have an impact – but we don’t yet know what it will be.”
He welcomes the fact that the Department of Communications and Digital Technology has already started work on an AI ethics framework.
“You have to start at some point, and it will then develop as the technology develops – but it is imperative that we start, to create that framework now, and start thinking about how we can use the technology.”