TEMPE, Ariz. — The future of artificial intelligence (AI) is profound and the City of Tempe is trying to get ahead of it.
Tempe adopted an ethical AI policy to ensure the responsible use of the new technologies.
“We want to be intentional in the type of work we’re doing and really think about how these types of tools could impact our community in positive ways or in ways that might be unexpected that could have potentially negative consequences," City of Tempe Chief Data and Analytics Officer Stephanie Deitrick said.
Before new AI technologies can be used by city employees, they first must prove they provide value to the community and would be used transparently and fairly.
If the committee approves its use, the city will continue to do quality control checks to prove it's accurate and unbiased.
“Unless you are aware of it and address it, so much of the data these machines are trained on has that bias," Professor Gary Marchant said.
Marchant, the faculty director of Arizona State University's Center for Law, Science and Innovation, said it's important to recognize how the technology works and why people are using it.
“What the City of Tempe has done here is try to put some policies early to try to get a handle on this as it develops so you can be in charge of it rather than it be in charge of you," Marchant said.
Marchant said all organizations should think about the use of AI because what's been seen so far of the technology is just scratching the surface.
“This technology is moving incredibly fast. It’s basically on an exponential curve," Marchant said. "What we’ve seen so far is just the very beginning."
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