contributed articles
The Stanford One Hundred Year Study on Artificial
Intelligence, a project that launched in December 2014,
is designed to be a century-long periodic assessment of
the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and its influences
on people, their communities, and society. Colloquially
referred to as “AI100,” the project issued its first
report in September 2016. A standing committee of AI
scientists and scholars in the humanities and social
sciences working with the Stanford faculty director
of AI100 oversees the project and the design of its
activities. A little more than two years after the first
report appeared, we reflect on the decisions made in
shaping it, the process that produced
it, its major conclusions, and reactions
subsequent to its release.
The inaugural AI100 report, 6 called
Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030, examined eight domains of human activity in which AI technologies are already
beginning to affect urban life. In scope,
it encompasses domains with emerging
products enabled by AI methods and
domains, raising concerns about technological impact generated by potential
AI-enabled systems. The study panel
members who wrote the report and the
AI100 standing committee, the body
that directs the AI100 project, intend for
it to be a catalyst, spurring conversations
on how we as a society might shape and
share the potentially powerful technologies AI could deliver. In addition to influencing researchers and guiding decisions in industry and governments, the
report aims to provide the general public
with a scientifically and technologically
accurate portrayal of the current state of
AI, along with that potential. It aspires
to replace conceptions rooted in science
fiction novels and movies with a realistic
foundation for these deliberations.
The report focuses on AI research
and “specialized AI technologies,” or
methods developed for and tailored to
particular applications, that are increasingly prevalent in daily activities rather
than deliberating about generalized intelligence, which is often mentioned in
A Century-Long
Commitment
to Assessing
Artificial
Intelligence
and Its Impact
on Society
DOI: 10.1145/3198470
A series of reports promises the general public
a technologically accurate view of the state
of AI and its societal implications.
BY BARBARA J. GROSZ AND PETER STONE
key insights
˽ Here, we describe the first report of the
100 Year Study on Artificial Intelligence,
which will regularly, over a century or
more, assess past accomplishments,
current status, and future potential of
AI science and technologies and their
possible effects on society.
˽ The 2016 inaugural report presents
the consensus perspective of active AI
researchers and scholars in related areas
of social sciences, striving to be neither
overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic.
˽ While drawing on common research
and technologies, AI systems are
specialized to accomplish particular
tasks, with each application requiring
years of focused research and unique
construction. I M
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