Université de Montréal, in collaboration with the Fonds de recherche du Québec, has announced the Montréal Declaration for Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence, a set of ethical guidelines for the development of AI.
The 10 principles of the Declaration include respect for autonomy (with the goal of increasing people’s control over their lives and their surroundings); protection of privacy and intimacy (both must be protected from intrusion by AIs and by data-acquisition and archiving systems); and responsibility (the development and use of AIS must not contribute to diminishing the responsibility of human beings when decisions must be made). The Declaration also added eight recommendations, including coverage of education and ethics, support for empowerment of citizens, and protection of democracy.
“Université de Montréal has been at the heart of many scientific breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, and I am pleased that a vast network of researchers and leaders from the scientific, legal, economic and political spheres has now coalesced around the social and ethical challenges related to AI,” said Université de Montréal rector Guy Breton. “I invite everyone with an interest in the subject to read the text of the Declaration and to sign it, so that their voice can be heard.”
Yoshua Bengio, a member of the Montréal Responsible AI Declaration Steering Committee, added: “As a scientist, I feel a great responsibility to see to it that the outcomes of my research and of developments across the AI spectrum are used for the benefit of as many people as possible. By integrating social responsibility principles at the outset of technological development in university and industry laboratories, we can have a truly positive and concrete impact. That is the distinguishing feature of this Declaration: it incorporates the concerns of all stakeholders in the field and rallies all of civil society around sound principles.”
Ethical AI has remained top of mind for the AI community in Canada, including Element AI expanding to London, UK to focus on building ethical AI, and Dr. Yoshua Bengio previously signing a global pledge against AI weaponry.
Individuals can sign the Declaration online here.