Artificial intelligence is in nearly all aspects of our lives. When we continue a conversation with our Alexa or Siri, order a new dish recommended by our favorite restaurant, or realize that our maps app is automatically routing us to our workplace on Monday morning, we interact with and use AI. Machine learning and natural language processing allow technology to know humans as well, if not better, than we know ourselves, allowing us to make better decisions and produce better outcomes for those around us.
While AI is undoubtedly useful, there are significant concerns from the public regarding the safety and ethics surrounding the technology. In March 2022, Pew Research Center reported that 45% of Americans were equally concerned and excited about the increased use of AI in daily life and that 37% were more concerned than excited about the prospect of increased AI. As some tech giants mismanage their users’ data or use AI in ways that lead to more harm than good, it is understandable and valid that consumers would have concerns regarding the ethics of AI.
Bright Apps aims to assure the public and our consumers that our AI is not only safe and effective but that it also has the ability to change the world around us for the better.
Bright Apps is a highly ethical company with decades of combined experience working in technology. Our team comes from a variety of diverse backgrounds, allowing us to learn from their lived experiences and ensure that our tech is designed with multiple perspectives in mind.
Bright Apps has clear ethical standards we hold ourselves to while designing the next generation of AI technologies, ensuring that the work we do will lead to a better, more equitable society.
By having clear ethical standards, Bright Apps can build the next generation of technology while ensuring that our work will lead to a better, more equitable society. Our standards are as follows:
- Ensure non-discrimination in the handling of data to create equity
- Protect the rights and privacy of our users
- Have firm guidelines to ensure that data is not misused or misappropriated
- Be an ethical business partner and ensure the organizations we work with have the same high level of ethical standards
- Only create AI that is beneficial for the common good
Our MatchStrike program utilizes natural language processing, among other AI technologies, which can greatly concern ethical standards. For example, if our model showed that a job posting for nurses was auto-populating more potential candidates that were women rather than men or nonbinary people, regardless of relevant experience, Bright Apps would work to eliminate that bias by training the machine learning models to include equal data for all genders and examine the results to ensure the model is equally accurate prior to release.
However, Bright Apps takes our goal of being ethical and equitable a step further by removing all data that could increase bias from machine learning hiring systems, further ensuring that the hiring process is an equitable one that provides opportunity based on experience, not on pre-conceived or subtle biases that hiring managers may have.
When considering facial and image recognition, it is essential to keep ethical standards at the forefront of our minds. It is a known fact that some algorithms and facial recognition software fails to recognize Black and people of color at a far higher rate than their white counterparts. In July 2020, the National Institute of Standards and Technology found that 189 algorithms showed racial bias towards women of color. It is essential that the AI we build can create equity and decrease systemic biases and oppression. By building machine learning models that use data from a variety of sources, we can ensure that our AI benefits and considers people from all communities.
Ethical AI does not only focus on eliminating biases and protecting data, it also centers on the purpose of the AI itself. We believe that AI has the power to not only excite consumers but to protect the common good. When you work with Bright Apps, you can be sure that you are working with an ethical business partner. By holding ourselves to high ethical standards, we can strive to benefit the world through technology and safeguard the future of AI for ourselves and future generations.
About the Author
Meghan Jonas is a passionate advocate, skilled communicator, and award-winning journalist with a background in grants management, nonprofit development, mining, education, journalism, and politics. Recent accomplishments include: receiving over half a million dollars for clean water and affordable housing in the Navajo Nation in one year; providing corporate communications and assistance to the world’s largest gold-producing complex during company mergers and acquisitions; and winning the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence award for in-depth reporting on the Blackfeet Nation. With vast and varied knowledge and experience, Meghan is a jack of all trades who looks forward to expanding her skillset even further.
