The company that once opened its code of conduct with the words “Don’t be evil” is now opening the door to assisting in the creation of AI-powered weapons and surveillance systems.
Changes in the company’s statement of AI principles introduced in a blog post on Tuesday remove the company’s earlier prohibition on engaging in such activities, leaving it much more wiggle room in an ethical area that has often brought it into conflict with its own staff.
The blog post by Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, and James Manyika, Google’s SVP for research, labs, technology & society, skated around the omission, instead focussing on three new core tenets: bold innovation, responsible development and deployment, and collaborative progress together.
This story originally appeared on Computerworld
