IBM\u00a0\u00a0has launched a software service that scans AI systems as they work in order to detect bias and provide explanations for the automated decisions being made \u2014 a degree of transparency that may be necessary for compliance purposes not just a company\u2019s own due diligence.<\/p>\n
The new trust and transparency system runs on the IBM cloud and works with\u00a0models built from what IBM bills as a wide variety of popular machine learning frameworks and AI-build environments \u2014 including its own Watson tech, as well as Tensorflow, SparkML, AWS SageMaker, and AzureML.<\/p>\n
It says the service can be customized to specific organizational needs via programming to take account of the \u201cunique decision factors of any business workflow\u201d.<\/p>\n
The fully automated SaaS explains decision-making and detects bias in AI models at runtime \u2014 so as decisions are being made \u2014 which means it\u2019s capturing \u201cpotentially unfair outcomes as they occur\u201d, as IBM puts it.<\/p>\n
It will also automatically recommend data to add to the model to help mitigate any bias that has been detected.<\/p>\n
Explanations of AI decisions include showing which factors weighted the decision in one direction vs another; the confidence in the recommendation; and the factors behind that confidence.<\/p>\n
IBM also says the software keeps records of the AI model\u2019s accuracy, performance and fairness, along with the lineage of the AI systems \u2014 meaning they can be \u201ceasily traced and recalled for customer service, regulatory or compliance reasons\u201d.<\/p>\n
For one example on the compliance front, the EU\u2019s\u00a0GDPR\u00a0privacy framework references automated decision making, and includes a right for people to be given detailed explanations of how algorithms work in certain scenarios \u2014 meaning businesses may need to be able to audit their AIs.<\/p>\n
The IBM AI scanner tool provides a breakdown of automated decisions via visual dashboards \u2014 an approach it bills as reducing dependency on \u201cspecialized AI skills\u201d.<\/p>\n
However it is also intending its own professional services staff\u00a0to work with businesses to use the new software service. So it will be both selling AI, \u2018a fix\u2019 for AI\u2019s imperfections, and experts to help smooth any wrinkles when enterprises are trying to fix their AIs\u2026 Which suggests that while AI will indeed remove some jobs, automation will be busy creating other types of work.<\/p>\n
Nor is IBM the first professional services firm to spot a business opportunity around AI bias. A few months ago\u00a0Accenture outed a fairness tool\u00a0for identifying and fixing unfair AIs.<\/p>\n
So with a major push towards automation across multiple industries there also looks to be a pretty sizeable scramble to set up and sell services to patch any problems that arise as a result of increasing use of AI.<\/p>\n
And, indeed, to encourage more businesses to feel confident about jumping in and automating more. (On that front IBM cites research it conducted which found that while 82% of enterprises are considering AI deployments, 60% fear liability issues and 63% lack the in-house talent to confidently manage the technology.)<\/p>\n
In additional to launching its own (paid for) AI auditing tool, IBM says its research division will be open sourcing an AI bias detection and mitigation toolkit \u2014 with the aim of encouraging \u201cglobal collaboration around addressing bias in AI\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIBM led the industry in establishing trust and transparency principles for the development of new AI technologies. It\u2019s time to translate principles into practice,\u201d said David Kenny, SVP of cognitive solutions at\u00a0IBM, commenting in a statement. \u201cWe are giving new transparency and control to the businesses who use AI and face the most potential risk from any flawed decision making.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IBM\u00a0\u00a0has launched a software service that scans AI systems as they work in order to detect bias and provide explanations for the automated decisions being made \u2014 a degree of transparency that may be necessary for compliance purposes not just a company\u2019s own due diligence. The new trust and transparency system runs on the IBM […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"amp_status":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[208,241],"tags":[127,366,364,365,367],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n