New survey shows that businesses want to
practice more ethical AI, but face barriers in doing so
TORONTO, Oct. 1, 2020 /CNW/ - A new survey has found that,
while the majority of Canadian businesses believe it is important
to implement artificial intelligence (AI) in an ethical and
responsible way, 93 per cent experience barriers in doing so,
citing cost, time and lack of understanding as the main issues.
As part of its commitment to advancing the development of
responsible AI and Machine Learning (ML), Borealis AI has developed
RESPECT AITM, a new online hub that brings open source
research code, tutorials, academic research and lectures to the AI
community, helping to make ethical AI available to all.
"Responsible and safe AI is critical to maintaining trust and
accountability, but as this new survey shows, many companies and
developers do not have the resources to implement AI safely and
ethically," explains Dr. Foteini Agrafioti, Head of Borealis
AI and RBC's Chief Science Officer. "RESPECT
AITM will help enable secure, fair, ethical and
trusted AI products and a more responsible adoption of AI
technology across industries."
According to the survey, conducted on behalf of RBC by
Maru/Matchbox, 77 per cent of those currently using AI/analytics
agree it is important for businesses to implement AI in an ethical
way. However, 92 per cent have concerns in dealing with the ethical
challenges that AI represents, and just 53 per cent have someone
responsible for ethical development of data and AI technology. Only
23 per cent of businesses are able to fully explain the decisions
and actions taken by their AI models.
The results of the survey also highlighted some significant
challenges that businesses face in terms of bias such as race and
gender. The vast majority (88 per cent) of companies believe they
have bias within their organization, but almost half (44 per cent)
do not understand the challenges that bias presents in AI.
"At RBC, we see a world where every client interaction and
business decision is informed by AI. Because our relationship with
our clients is built on a foundation of trust, practicing ethical
and responsible AI is not an option – it's the only way we do
business," says Bruce Ross, Group
Head, Technology & Operations, RBC. "RESPECT AITM is
proof of our commitment to building a healthy technology ecosystem
within and beyond financial services."
RESPECT AITM will focus on five critical areas that
contribute to responsible AI, and include resources in the
following areas:
- Robustness: The ability of an AI system to defend
against adversarial attacks. This component of RESPECT
AITM includes Advertorch, Borealis AI's well-established
adversarial robustness research code, with more than 1,000
downloads per month, which implements a series of attack and
defense strategies that can be used to protect against risks. This
tool is offered to AI researchers and scientists that aim to
advance the field of robustness in machine learning.
- Data Privacy: Maintaining trust and integrity while
leveraging large data sets is an essential component of responsible
AI. This section includes scientific publications and research code
on Private Synthetic Data Generation, a method that allows
scientists to use large data sets without risking the exposure of
personal identifiable information. This tool can be used by
researchers to advance the field of AI privacy by proposing novel
solutions to this critical issue.
- Fairness: The ability to mitigate the challenge of bias
in AI models. This area includes technical tutorials on bias as
well as guidance for organizations to address bias.
- Model Governance: Stakeholders need to trust that models
are safe, compliant and robust. This speaks to ensuring
accountability and reliability in AI, which is critical to the
successful application of AI models. This section includes expert
interviews and guidance for businesses and developers navigating
this complex area.
- Explainability: An understanding of how the ML algorithm
learns and makes decisions. Our program includes technical articles
and business blogs outlining how explainability can help build
trust in AI.
The RESPECT AITM online hub is now available at
borealisai.com/respectai, and will be supported with new research
code and content releases on an ongoing basis.
About the Survey
Data were collected as part of Maru BizPulse program, operated by
Maru/Reports and Maru/Matchbox, which collects and tracks key
metrics describing how Canadian businesses are feeling, thinking,
and behaving. The survey audience was made up of owners and senior
decision-makers with Canadian businesses, with a particular focus
on small and midsized businesses. The survey was fielded in
September, 2020. All sample was sourced through the Maru/Blue
proprietary business panel and partners. A total of 622 responses
were collected for this portion of the survey. For more
information, please visit www.marureports.com.
About RBC
Royal Bank of Canada is a global financial institution with
a purpose-driven, principles-led approach to delivering leading
performance. Our success comes from the 86,000+ employees who bring
our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients
thrive and communities prosper. As Canada's biggest bank, and one of the largest
in the world based on market capitalization, we have a diversified
business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional
experiences to our 17 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 34 other countries. Learn
more at rbc.com.
We are proud to support a broad range of community initiatives
through donations, community investments and employee volunteer
activities. See how at rbc.com/community-social-impact.
About RESPECT AITM
RESPECT
AITM stands for Responsible, Ethical, Safe,
Private, Equitable and Compliant Technology in AI, encompassing
what the platform will contribute to the AI community.
The program consists of publicly available scientific research
and research code; training material and thought leadership.
The code is intended for AI developers and researchers to use in
their own AI research and development. It is not designed for
commercial use.
This material is made available under license as-is without any
representations or warranties of any kind and in no event will
Borealis AI be liable for any damages arising out of the use of the
licensed material.
About Borealis AI
Borealis AI is a world-class AI Research center backed by RBC.
Recognized for scientific excellence, Borealis AI uses the latest
in machine learning capabilities to solve challenging problems in
the financial industry. Led by award-winning inventor and
entrepreneur Foteini Agrafioti, and with top North American
scientists and engineers, Borealis AI is at the core of the bank's
innovation strategy and benefits from RBC's scale, data and trusted
brand. With a focus on responsible AI, natural language processing
and reinforcement learning, Borealis AI is committed to building
solutions using machine learning and artificial intelligence that
will transform the way individuals manage their finances and their
futures. For more information please see: www.borealisai.com.
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SOURCE RBC