Amazon Archives - Page 2 of 2

Lack of STEM diversity is causing AI to have a ‘white male’ bias

A report from New York University's AI Now Institute has found a predominantly white male coding workforce is causing bias in algorithms.

The report highlights that – while gradually narrowing – the lack of diverse representation at major technology companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Facebook is causing AIs to cater more towards white males.

For example, at Facebook just 15 percent of the company's AI staff are women. The problem is even more substantial at...

18 April 2019 | Ethics & Society

AI Experts: Dear Amazon, stop selling facial recognition to law enforcement

A group of AI experts have signed an open letter to Amazon demanding the company stops selling facial recognition to law enforcement following bias findings.

Back in January, AI News reported on findings by Algorithmic Justice League founder Joy Buolamwini who researched some of the world's most popular facial recognition algorithms.

Buolamwini found most of the algorithms were biased and misidentified subjects with darker skin colours and/or females more...

4 April 2019 | Amazon

Amazon joins calls to establish facial recognition standards

Amazon has put its weight behind the growing number of calls from companies, individuals, and rights groups to establish facial recognition standards.

Michael Punke, VP of Global Public Policy at Amazon Web Services, said.

"Over the past several months, we've talked to customers, researchers, academics, policymakers, and others to understand how to best balance the benefits of facial recognition with the potential risks.

It's critical that any legislation protect...

8 February 2019 | Amazon

Microsoft warns its AI offerings ‘may result in reputational harm’

Microsoft has warned investors that its AI offerings could damage the company’s reputation in a bid to prepare them for the worst.

AI can be unpredictable, and Microsoft already has experience. Back in 2016, a Microsoft chatbot named Tay became a racist, sexist, generally-rather-unsavoury character after internet users took advantage of its machine learning capabilities

The chatbot was covered in media around the world and itself was bound to have caused Microsoft some...

6 February 2019 | Ethics & Society

Amazon doubles-down on AI with public re:MARS conference

Amazon has announced it will be holding an AI conference later this year called ‘re:MARS’ which is open for the public to attend.

The AI-focused conference will feature speakers, workshops, demonstrations, and roundtables.

Amazon has been holding a similar conference simply called MARS (Machine learning, Automation, Robotics, and Space) for the past three years. That event, however, was invite-only.

Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon,...

18 January 2019 | Amazon

Amazon expert suggests AI regulation after ACLU’s bias findings

An expert from Amazon has suggested the government should implement a minimum confidence level for the use of facial recognition in law enforcement. Dr. Matt Wood, GM of Deep Learning and AI at Amazon Web Services, made the suggestion in a blog post responding to the ACLU’s (American Civil Liberties Union) findings of a racial bias in the ‘Rekognition’ facial recognition algorithm by Amazon. In their findings, the ACLU found Rekognition erroneously labelled those with darker skin...

30 July 2018 | Amazon

ACLU finds Amazon’s facial recognition AI is racially biased

A test of Amazon’s facial recognition technology by the ACLU has found it erroneously labelled those with darker skin colours as criminals more often. Bias in AI technology, when used by law enforcement, has raised concerns of infringing on civil rights by automated racial profiling. A 2010 study by researchers at NIST and the University of Texas in Dallas found that algorithms designed and tested in East Asia are better at recognising East Asians, while those designed in Western...

27 July 2018 | Amazon

Amazon is next to face employee protest over government contracts

amazon government protest contract surveillance face recognition

Mere days after Google and Microsoft staff protested their employers’ controversial government contracts, Amazon is facing its own internal revolt. Amazon employees are not all too pleased with their company’s sale of facial recognition software and other services to US government bodies. Much like Google and Microsoft’s employees, who demanded their respective companies never undertake work that may cause social or physical harm, a similar letter was posted on Amazon’s internal...

22 June 2018 | Amazon

Constable Alexa: Police consider using Amazon’s AI to fight crime

Lancashire Constabulary considers using Amazon’s popular voice assistant, Alexa, in a bid to improve efficiency and fight crime. Users would be able to report crimes using the assistant on supported device, or have warnings about local issues spoken to them. For example, a spate of car thefts in the area could prompt an alert to neighbours to be more vigilant of people acting suspiciously around vehicles. In the event of a developing situation, such as a suspect fleeing from a scene on...