Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
IN last Sunday’s editorial, we considered the impact the rapidly growing phenomenon of artificial intelligence (AI) may have on the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in the Philippines. This is no small concern, because the BPO sector is one of the most important drivers of our economy, contributing more than 7 percent of annual GDP, and it also happens to be a sector in which AI can and will be widely used.
Not all of the consequences of that are bad, of course; it can greatly enhance the capabilities of the sector and make it even more competitive. But it can also lead to serious business disruption and displacement of workers if not managed well, and we continue to urge the BPO industry and government to work together to do exactly that.
However, concerns about AI go far beyond any one economic sector, and the views of the man who is considered “the godfather of AI,” published in a story Wednesday, should serve as cautionary advice.
Geoffrey Hinton, the developer of a foundational technology for AI and until very recently, a scientist at Google, told the New York Times in an interview that advances in AI pose “profound risks to society and humanity.”
Hinton reportedly resigned his position at Google last month in order to speak out about the potential dangers of the unchecked development of AI. To be sure, Hinton was not criticizing the concept of AI itself, but explained that competition between the tech giants — among them Google, OpenAI, Microsoft and IBM — was pushing them to develop new AI applications too quickly, without considering how they might disrupt jobs, be misused to spread disinformation or cause other harm.
From our perspective, blindly rushing forward to use AI without consideration of the possible consequences is rash. A warning that has been frequently repeated of late is, “Regulate AI before it regulates you,” and while that might sound a bit glib, it ought to be taken seriously. Just as we have seen with other world-changing technologies, such as the internet, the products of human ingenuity can and do grow beyond our control when we only react to their implications, and not exercise some critical forethought.
By the same token, fearmongering about the hazards of AI — one example is the recent call by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk and others to “pause” AI research and regulate it “before it’s too late — is equally rash. Yes, it is obvious some regulation is needed, but it is equally obvious that there are an almost unimaginable number of potential benefits of AI, if it is applied for good. Regulation is a blunt instrument under the best of circumstances, and the prospects of it being applied to the best effect to a fast-moving form of technology that is not completely understood are poor indeed.
In order to formulate a regulatory approach in a properly proactive way, we would offer three recommendations to the government. First, any notion of regulating AI research should be off the table; that will only serve to stifle innovation, and prevent improvements to the technology. Regulation should focus instead on its application.
Second, the government should formulate rules for the use of AI in government offices and processes. This will force the government to think carefully about how AI is used, and can be used, and will implement at least some safe guidelines before it grows beyond control. These rules can also be closely monitored and adjusted to suit real-world and real-time conditions, without having to go through a time-consuming bureaucratic process. Then, after a reasonable period of time to address whatever bugs might be encountered, the rules can be used as the basis for the crafting of an actual law governing AI.
Finally, businesses operating in the Philippines should be required to publicly disclose their use of AI. There need not be any limits imposed on the use of AI by private enterprise — at least not initially, except for clear cases of illegal activity — but transparency is critical, both for the informed choice of consumers and other businesses, and for the sake of information-gathering on the part of the government for the eventual development of smart regulation.
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