Making Friends with AI
Etiquette Lessons for AI
How to build machines with good manners
You’ve just built an AI system. What will you do if mistakes happen?
Here’s one mistake already: when! “When” mistakes happen, not “if” mistakes happen!
When B.J. May stepped out of his Georgia home on a sunny day, he experienced one of my favorite AI whoopsies. The “smart” facial recognition-based lock on his front door wouldn’t let him back in because it was protecting the residents from…
… Batman!
Luckily, the team that built the smart lock planned for mistakes, which is why B.J. had the option to use his pin to get back inside. But what if they hadn’t? Our (super)hero would have had a very different day indeed. And a very dark night.
When, not if
Just as responsible policymakers create plans and failsafes for human error, responsible practitioners of machine learning and AI always make sure that there’s a plan in place in case the system produces the wrong output.
