The City of Tempe has introduced a resolution that obligates the city to only use artificial intelligence in an ethical and responsible manner.
TEMPE, Ariz. — The City of Tempe has introduced a resolution that outlines a policy for how the city shall use artificial intelligence in a responsible and ethical manner.
As corporations and government institutions rush to adapt to smarter technologies, Tempe has preemptively vowed to only utilize AI while fostering “transparency, fairness, accountability, and individual rights.”
“The City of Tempe is committed to evaluating technologies before implementing them. These careful evaluations will help to guard against the infiltration of flawed or biased data or algorithms into the city’s problem-solving processes,” a city spokesperson recently wrote in a statement to 12News.
Tempe said its ethics policy is believed to be the first of its kind to be formulated and enacted by a municipality in Arizona.
Concerns about problematic AI algorithms have been circulating in tech circles for years and much attention has been given to decision-making technologies that have favored one demographic over another.
Amazon notably stopped using a hiring tool a few years ago that had taught itself to favor male job applicants over females based on the data it was given.
Tempe promises to “actively work to eliminate biases” and “prevent discrimination” in its deployment of any AI technology, according to a draft of Tempe’s policy.
Furthermore, the city’s policy states it shall “establish standards for accountability and oversight” throughout the selection and development of AI tools.
A Tempe spokesperson said the city has not yet deployed any novel AI technologies in its everyday work.
A draft of the city’s policy can be read below:
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