A new research group designed to advance accountability in artificial intelligence (AI) has been launched at Trinity College Dublin.
The AI Accountability Lab will examine the broader impacts of AI and hold powerful entities accountable for technological harms.
The team behind the lab said that AI technologies have been shown to encode and exacerbate existing societal norms and inequalities, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups.
In sectors such as healthcare, education, and law enforcement, deployment of AI technologies without thorough evaluation can have a negative impact on individuals and groups, according to researchers.
The new lab will be led by Dr Abeba Birhane, Research Fellow in the ADAPT Research Ireland Centre at the School of Computer Science and Statistics in Trinity.
“The AI Accountability Lab aims to foster transparency and accountability in the development and use of AI systems,” Dr Birhane said.
“This includes better understanding and critical scrutiny of the wider AI ecology – for example via systematic studies of possible corporate capture, to the evaluation of specific AI models, tools, and training datasets,” she added.
The lab is supported by a grant of just under €1.5 million from three groups: the AI Collaborative, an Initiative of the Omidyar Group; Luminate; and the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation.
It will be housed in the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College.
“The new dawn of AI associated with generative AI has heralded a velocity of AI adoption hitherto fore not witnessed,” said Professor Gregory O’Hare, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Head of School of Computer Science & Statistics at Trinity.
“The AI Accountability Lab will be at the forefront of research that will examine such systems; through algorithmic auditability it will create a National and European Centre of Excellence in this space, delivering thought leadership and informing best practice,” Professor O’Hare said.
Article Source – AI accountability lab launched at Trinity College Dublin – RTE
