Data is the fuel for AI, so let’s ensure we get the ethics right

Data is the propulsive energy behind the fourth industrial revolution – playing the same role as coal, oil and electricity did in the previous revolutions.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the new engine, just as the railways connected north and south, roads and cars connected our cities, and electrification lit up our homes and allowed domestic appliances to free women to go to work.

As when agriculture was mechanised or mass production became mainstream, some jobs will be lost, even as other jobs will be generated. But to harness AI’s job-generating power, we need to ensure that it has the flows of data crucial to its success.

Without data, there is no AI. Since the potential for the abuse of data is huge, solving the ethical conundrums surrounding this is becoming the number one AI issue.

I welcome the emphasis on data and ethics in the industrial strategy published last week. With the commitment to create a Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, the government is putting ethics at the heart of how this country develops and harnesses the power of AI and automation.

It is important to remember that technology is essentially neutral. Robots do not decide to go after anyone’s jobs – it’s the people who write the algorithms and shape this brave new world.

We need more public trust to free our data to generate the growth and welfare. Data sharing is a social benefit. It is the way value is created in the AI era.

In fact, data sharing should be part of the “social contract” between each person and their society. Thus, just as we require a driving licence and car insurance to drive a car, so users of a driverless car should be required to share their data for everyone’s collective good.

For this to happen, the Big Innovation Centre argues that the government needs to establish a data charter with stakeholders on what can be done with personal and business data, so that everyone will know how their data is used and not used.

This will in turn increase trust and create incentives to allow data to be shared. The US is already moving ahead with “user rights”. Britain needs to introduce a “fair use” principle too.