AI Governance for a Prosperous Future

Artificial intelligence is the biggest invention of humanity, and the quintessence of the fourth industrial revolution. It is the result of our age-old dream to have a loyal, yet very capable and obedient servant, an equal, at times even a superior intelligence that works, protects and inspires and that we still control to secure and advance our own welfare. And therein lies the seed of contention. Something that is superior to us can ultimately not be controlled by us but could rather perceive us as it’s resource. A truly dystopian future from a human perspective. Even though this future might be decades or a century away, with AIs still in their infancy, they nevertheless have already demonstrated their transformative power, changing our workplaces, our cars and our homes, selecting our partners and our perception of reality. And as any tool is also a weapon, we must ensure that AI becomes more tool than weapon and works for humanity and not the other way round. Corporate AI governance is key to safeguarding the transition to a society in which AI is omnipresent and a blessing, not a curse. It must ensure that its intelligized products and services behave ethically responsible. It must consider the well-being of its employees, customers and business partners wherever AI is deployed. This is a very tall order, and even more so as with AI we are venturing into the unknown. Only this June (2022) Google sanctioned one of their software developers who claimed that one of the company’s most advanced AI, called LaMDA, should have developed consciousness ( https://www.gizchina.com/2022/06/14/google-employee-suspended-after-saying-that-ai-has-become-conscious/ ). AI is a highly sensitive topic. Therefore, transparency and a well-structured AI governance are imperative to building trust and ensuring that we do not experience a major backlash in this domain by being careless. A backlash that could cost us dearly as AI is the key to a better future, one with less diseases, less suffering and more wealth for all people on the planet. This article reflects on the many aspects of AI governance and proposes a way to structure it methodically to make it applicable in work processes, products and services always considering the dichotomy between benefits and risks of AI.