Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      The little-known company disrupting Eskom’s monopoly

      16 June 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E2: South Africa’s digital battlefield

      16 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Beijing’s chip champions blacklisted by Taiwan

      16 June 2025

      Chief sub-editor wanted – help shape South African tech media

      16 June 2025
    • World

      Yahoo tries to make its mail service relevant again

      13 June 2025

      Qualcomm shows off new chip for AI smart glasses

      11 June 2025

      Trump tariffs to dim 2025 smartphone shipments

      4 June 2025

      Shrimp Jesus and the AI ad invasion

      4 June 2025

      Apple slams EU rules as ‘flawed and costly’ in major legal pushback

      2 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025

      South Africa unveils big state digital reform programme

      12 May 2025

      Is this the end of Google Search as we know it?

      12 May 2025
    • TCS

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025

      TCS | Sentiv, and the story behind the buyout of Altron Nexus

      3 June 2025

      TCS | Signal restored: Unpacking the Blue Label and Cell C turnaround

      28 May 2025
    • Opinion

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025

      Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

      29 May 2025

      Solar panic? The truth about SSEG, fines and municipal rules

      14 April 2025

      Data protection must be crypto industry’s top priority

      9 April 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » David Glance » What should gov’t be doing about the rise of AI?

    What should gov’t be doing about the rise of AI?

    By David Glance6 November 2017
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    There is little doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming almost every facet of human life. How far this transformation will go and what the full ramifications for society will be are still unknown, but this hasn’t prevented people from making both optimistic and dire predictions.

    Elon Musk’s call for AI regulation has been matched by equal calls for governments not to.

    One of the principle problems with AI has been the confusion that surrounds what it is exactly, and what it can and can’t actually do. The single biggest problem in understanding AI however has been making it clear how current AI techniques (like deep learning) differ from human intelligence.

    With the use of large amounts of data, questions immediately arise as to from where the data is collected, and what exactly it is being used for

    To answer some of these questions, the OECD held a conference last week on AI. Government and industry representatives, AI academics and others met to review the state of AI and pose the question of what governments could, and should do, in creating policy to take advantage of the benefits of AI while minimising the risks.

    The first thing that became clear is that the focus of discussion was mainly on machine learning and in particular, deep learning. Deep-learning software learns to be able to recognise patterns from data. Google, for example, is using it to recognise pets by their faces. Another company, DeepL, uses deep learning to do high-quality language translation.

    Speakers emphasised that deep learning works only because it uses a large amount of data that is processed on powerful computers. It has become successful as a technique because companies have access to large amounts of data and at the same time, to large amounts of cheap processing power.

    With the use of large amounts of data, questions immediately arise as to from where the data is collected, and what exactly it is being used for.

    Deep learning

    The use of large amounts of potentially personal data raises privacy concerns, and concerns about how exactly this data is used in determining outcomes with real-world consequences.

    In the US, for example, deep learning is already being used to calculate the terms of sentencing in court cases. There is no way for anyone to know how the software arrived at a particular decision, especially what factors in the data were the most important in making that determination. In one particular case in the US, machine-learning-assisted sentencing was subsequently challenged. The challenge failed, however, because the courts felt that the outputs of the machine-learning sentencing system were sufficiently transparent, and further details of how the system worked shouldn’t be revealed.

    AI researcher Joanna Bryson has previously shown that data used to train machine learning contains a range of biases including those around race and gender. This has serious consequences with the decisions that are made when AI systems are trained with this type of data. Biased data will reinforce bias in the decisions of these systems.

    Other researchers have shown that it is possible to corrupt data used to train machine learning making it possible to for example, fool cars by adding silver tape to a road sign, possibly triggering the car to act inappropriately.

    While the benefits of machine learning may not be fully realised without access to a great deal of data, there has to be a balance of the risks of concentrating the collection of ever more personal data that is held in the hands of a few companies or governments.

    Many participants of the conference viewed data as being the central driver of AI and the area most in most need of government regulation.

    One concern that has been expressed in the discussion on AI is the possibility that its impact is being overstated

    Another important set of questions arise out of the question of product liability and corporate responsibility. If a self-driving car causes an accident, who should be held to blame? The manufacturer of the car, the software developer of the component AI that failed, or the owner of the vehicle? Again, there has been much discussion on the subject but no real conclusions, although there is an expectation that the liability will fall on the car makers.

    One concern that has been expressed in the discussion on AI is the possibility that its impact is being overstated. The applications that are making the most impact today are examples of pattern recognition and not general intelligence. This ability is still very useful in a range of areas such science, medicine and cybersecurity.

    When it comes to what governments should be doing, there was an implied agreement at the conference that they should be enabling AI to be used for their obvious benefits to society. This must be balanced by minimising the risks of the increased collection of personal data and the risks of how the AI is actually using that data.

    There are many more areas of discussion that become important for governments and the public in considering the role of AI in their societies. What makes this a challenge is that AI touches every aspect of life to a greater or lesser extent. What we still don’t know yet is how far the development of AI will go, and ultimately how successful it will be in becoming a generalised, human-like intelligence.The Conversation

    • David Glance is director of UWA Centre for Software Practice, University of Western Australia
    • This article was originally published on The Conversation


    David Glance top
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleQualcomm braces for $100bn fight with Broadcom
    Next Article BCX launches free digital learning platform

    Related Posts

    18GW in unplanned breakdowns cripple Eskom

    2 November 2021

    Nersa kicks the Karpowership can down the road

    13 September 2021

    If you think South African load shedding is bad, try Zimbabwe’s

    13 September 2021
    Company News

    Huawei Watch Fit 4 Series: smarter sensors, sharper design, stronger performance

    13 June 2025

    Change Logic and BankservAfrica set new benchmark with PayShap roll-out

    13 June 2025

    SAPHILA 2025 – transcending with purpose, connection and AI-powered vision

    13 June 2025
    Opinion

    Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

    2 June 2025

    South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

    2 June 2025

    Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

    29 May 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.