When you were a teenager, someone probably sat you down to explain “the birds and the bees”. For many, this was an uncomfortable topic; maybe even one that was avoided for as long as possible. In the development community, I’ve noticed a similar approach being taken to discussing the ethics of AI. But in the famous words of Salt-N-Pepa (mostly): “Let’s talk about AI, baby! Let’s talk about you and me! Let’s talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be.” AI is not going away anytime soon: it’s wildly interesting, full of potential, and capable of so much good – however, it also has the potential to cause serious harm. So let’s get real for a bit and talk about what should be considered in order to use AI responsibly: bias, misinformation, dataset sources, accountability and more. After all…if you’re not ready to talk about AI, then you’re probably not ready to have it.
