Google has created an external advisory council to give it guidance on ethical issues relating to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

The panel of independent experts will help it implement principles to address some of the company’s most complex challenges to do with facial recognition and ethics in automation.

It follow’s parent company Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai’s statement last summer that Google would follow new AI principles, pledging not to use the technology that causes injury to people.

Specifically, Google confirmed that it would not renew a contract to do AI work for the US Pentagon, following pressure from internal staff, some of whom resigned over involvement with ‘Project Maven’.

A blog post by senior vice president of global affairs Kent Walker explained that the eight-member Advanced Technology External Advisory Council (ATEAC) would feature Joanna Bryson, an associate professor in computing at the University of Bath; William J. Burns, a former US deputy secretary of state, and leading mathematician Bubacarr Bah.

The council is expected to publish a report at the end of 2019, and it will meet four times this year, beginning in April.

Share Story: