New York Mayor Eric Adams on Monday, October 16, presented a plan for the introduction and regulation of artificial intelligence.
Mr. Adams said that machine intelligence is a technology with the potential to improve the quality of services and processes in government. At the same time, the mayor of New York noted that using AI contains risks.
It also became known that a chatbot based on machine intelligence is currently being tested in the mentioned city, which will provide information in response to user requests about opening or running a business on the MyCity Business website.
New York agencies have reported using more than 30 tools that meet the city’s definition of algorithmic technology. These solutions are used in the framework of tasks such as tracking outbreaks of diseases provoked by the consumption of certain foods, analyzing the structure of crime, and matching students with public schools.
The city plans to form a policy concept for new and existing apps based on machine intelligence. The doctrine of interaction with AI is necessary against the background of the improvement of advanced technology and the resulting increase in the relevance of the problems of algorithmic bias of digital consciousness systems, disinformation, and confidentiality.
Matthew C. Fraser, the city’s technical director, says it’s not enough to encourage agencies to implement more machine intelligence-based solutions. According to him, in the context of scaling up the integration of advanced technology into the space of life, it is necessary to create a basis for reducing the likelihood of using AI in the framework of incorrect scenarios, generating and distributing fictional facts by digital thinking systems, and the presence of semantic attitudes of biased and discriminatory attitude to certain events and phenomena in the structure of perception of the surrounding reality by virtual consciousness.
The New York strategy, developed by the Office of Technology and Innovation with the participation of representatives of city agencies and external experts, does not provide any rules and regulations regarding machine intelligence but contains a schedule and a scheme for their creation.
Over the next year, the city plans to hold public hearings on AI issues and instruct agencies on the methodology and goals of using artificial intelligence in everyday activities. New York also intends to start work on piloting new machine intelligence tools within a year. During two years, the city plans to conclude contracts using AI.
New York, after creating a local chatbot, demonstrates the potential of machine intelligence to improve government websites and services. The aforementioned digital assistant, trained by more than 2,000 pages of information on MyCity’s web page, provides answers to questions about compliance, business incentives, licensing, and credit conditions.
Kevin Kim, commissioner of Small Business Services in New York, says that the chatbot eliminates the need to navigate from page to page in search of the right data. He also said that the virtual assistant is available for use around the clock.
According to experts, the use of algorithmic tools as a way of making political decisions is a difficult task. In their opinion, in this case, the problem lies in the fact that the data arrays based on which the AI model was trained may contain biased value judgments.
Based on the results of practical experience, it was found that machine intelligence tools applied in hiring, in the process of law enforcement, and the real estate sector can contribute to discrimination based on gender and nationality.
The potential of artificial intelligence in terms of the possibility of replacing part of the staff can help New York overcome the problem of personnel shortage. At the same time, advanced technology can put people out of work.
As part of the efforts to eliminate the mentioned problems, New York intends to expand the rules of algorithmic reporting and create a risk assessment process for AI tools.
As we have reported earlier, Meta Works to Prevent Inappropriate Replies From New AI Chatbots.
