How do we make AI ethical?

When implemented poorly, AI can entrench existing biases

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Published In Features
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(Image credit: Future)

AI is driving rapid change in the tech sector. New advancements in the field have brought tools like ChatGPT, Bard, and StableDiffusion to the public, while also offering the potential to solve knotty problems in areas such as medical research and climate change.

But from the designing phase, right through to training and implementation, AI models must be made with ethical boundaries in mind. Without careful consideration of input and end result, AI can reflect the prejudices or limitations of its developers, and cause real harm.

In this episode, Rory and Jane speak to Dr. Sohrob Kazerounian, distinguished AI researcher at cyber security company Vectra AI, to unpack the considerations that go into making AI ethical, and how firms can work to eliminate unexpected bias.

Highlights

“Whereas for the last 5-10 years, we've been telling people in security, ‘hey, you need AI, you need machine learning’, we're now starting to recognize that machine learning people need to start thinking about the security and robustness of their models in a way that might be different to what they're used to.

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“I think it becomes incumbent on people who want to use machine learning and AI techniques to really spend the effort to do it. Whether or not in the limit we can eliminate all bias is a sort of open philosophical question and debate we can have. But I think in the near term, it's going to be something that we definitely have to at least attack and try and try and eliminate”

“There's no world in which you can basically let these models just put a large number of people out of their jobs, without also having to say ‘has it benefited from their labour?’”

Footnotes

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Rory Bathgate
Rory Bathgate
Former Features and Multimedia Editor

Rory Bathgate was Features and Multimedia Editor at ITPro until 2026, overseeing all in-depth content and case studies. He also co-hosted the ITPro Podcast with Jane McCallion, swapping a keyboard for a microphone to discuss the latest learnings with thought leaders from across the tech sector.

In his free time, Rory enjoys photography, video editing, and good science fiction. After graduating from the University of Kent with a BA in English and American Literature, Rory undertook an MA in Eighteenth-Century Studies at King’s College London. He joined ITPro in 2022 as a graduate, following four years in student journalism. You can contact Rory on LinkedIn.

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