Defining Safety in Artificial Intelligence: ‘We Need to Have a Community’

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are part of our everyday lives, from the technology on smartphones to the recommendations you get while shopping online. As AI changes the world, we need to develop a robust safety science in the field, researchers and practitioners told the Center for Advancing Safety of Machine Intelligence (CASMI) at Northwestern University.

CASMI hosted a workshop on January 19 and 20 entitled, “Toward a Safety Science of AI.” Interdisciplinary thought leaders attended to share ideas on how we can define, measure, and anticipate safety in AI.

“The goal of this workshop is not to have one view on what safety is,” said Kristian Hammond, Bill and Cathy Osborn Professor and Director of CASMI, “but consider the breadth and depth of possible harms that might scope across individuals, groups, and society.