SURIGAO del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers today urged the country’s policymakers – from legislators and the executive branch – to tackle with urgency the creation of an agency tasked to craft guidelines on governance and ethics and act as “guardrail” in the use, development and implementation of a national Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy.
Barbers, chair of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, said regulators across the world – from the United States, Great Britain, European Union, some ASEAN countries like Singapore, among others – are currently rushing to draft regulations to govern the use of the booming AI technology.
Early this year, the solon from Mindanao filed a bill calling for the creation of a “superbody” to be known as Artificial Intelligence Development Authority (AIDA) to oversee the development and deployment of AI technologies, ensuring compliance with AI ethics principles and guidelines, and protecting the rights and welfare of individuals and communities affected by AI technologies.
“While the rapid phase of technological advancement in AI provides huge potential in the development of the people and the economy, it also poses risks and challenges that must be addressed to ensure that its benefits are maximized, and its negative impacts are minimized, if not avoided,” Barbers said.
“Tulad ng paghahanda natin, kasama na ang pamahalaan, sa mga sakuna tulad ng bagyo, baha, lindol, sunog at iba pa, dapat din natin paghandaan ang daluyong na pwedeng dalhin sa ating bansa ng AI technology. Kasama na rin dito ang pagharap at pag-gamit nang kabutihang maidudulot nito sa ating lipunan, bansa at ekonomiya,” he added.
Recently, the University of the Philippines released a draft set of 10 guiding principles on the “responsible use” of AI in response to the rapid development and adoption of the technology, especially in an academic environment.
The draft text outlines the “UP Principles for Responsible Artificial Intelligence” use and development in the university and for the public good. It asked students, teachers and other members of the UP community to make suggestions to improve the draft.
On the issue of possible job displacement, Barbers said he has received reports that the local BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry, where there are more than 528,000 call center employees, as well other industries involving online marketing and search engine optimization, finance, health care organizations, transportation, retail, among others, may be affected by the entry and use AI technology in the country.
Earlier, Geoffrey Hinton, a former Engineer of Google and dubbed as the ‘Godfather of AI,’ disclosed that the new technology he himself helped develop poses danger to society and humanity.
Barbers said The ‘AI Godfather’ himself, Geoffrey Hinton, had been quoted in news reports as saying ‘AI could kill humans and there might be no way to stop it.’ This is aside from alarms raised by advocacy groups and tech insiders that the new crop of AI-powered chatbots could be used to spread misinformation and displace jobs.”
“As I have said earlier, we should have a “watchdog” to guard against unscrupulous individuals, like bandits or terrorist groups, that would take advantage of or use it for their selfish or criminal ends. Mahirap yung patulog-tulog tayo sa pancitan sa mga bagay na ito,” he said.
