What’s going on:Â Â Â
In Microsoft’s latest layoff of 10,000 employees, a whole team dedicated to safeguarding their AI products against any potential social harms was cut, according to Ars Technica. Â
Why it matters:Â Â
Ex-staff have stated that the ethics and society team was a crucial element in Microsoft’s attempt to lower the dangers posed by using OpenAI technology in their products. Prior to its dissolution, the team had established a complete “responsible innovation toolkit” to assist Microsoft engineers in predicting any harms that AI could bring about — and then mitigate them.Â
Despite the ethics and society team’s size dwindling (before the layoff), Microsoft had no intention of eliminating them. Then on March 6th, during a Zoom meeting, the few members remaining were abruptly informed that it was “business critical” to disband the team for good.Â
How it’ll impact the future:Â
AI technology may still be in its early stages, but it has already become infamous for stirring up conspiracies, disseminating false information, and even slandering people. Â
More and more advancements are being made to this new tech, but it will need human interference and regulation for some time more.
