Comment by Steven Hill

Given the constraints on the current research paradigm, scientists and policy advocates are increasingly coming to the conclusion that a more collaborative and international endeavor is necessary to truly harness the power of AI and ensure it is used for beneficial purposes. In June 2017, representatives from the World Health Organization and a number of other United Nations agencies were joined by AI experts, policy makers and business leaders in Geneva, Switzerland, for a three-day summit called “AI for Good.” The goal was to provide a forum for a nonpartisan and noncommercial evaluation of the possibilities AI offers to benefit all of humanity. The participants discussed how AI research could focus on developments that would help everyone – from reducing inequality and improving the environment to building services for emerging countries, where people increasingly have access to smart phones. Facebook, for example, reaches nearly 800 million users in the developing world, where the company has tailored its app for low-bandwidth connections and less expensive Android phones. “This is where AI can learn from other disciplines,” says Slusallek. “For example, the Human Genome project has brought researchers from around the globe together to jointly and systematically study human genomics. As a result, we have made huge progress in just a few years that would have been impossible without these coordinated efforts.” Marcus echoes that observation, going so far as to propose the creation of a CERN for AI. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s largest and most respected centers for high-intensity physics and particle acceleration. It is a huge, international collaboration, with thousands of scientists and billions of dollars in funding provided by dozens of nations. Following that model, some scientists and experts like Marcus are calling for an international consortium that is focused on pure AI science and research to serve the public good. This would be a highly interdisciplinary effort that would bring together scientists from many areas, in close collaboration and interaction with industry, politics and the public. A key element would be advancing the many strands of research in this area by discussing common approaches, methods, algorithms, data and their applications. [...] Instead of a race to AI supremacy, a CERN for AI could produce research and basic architecture development that would be made publicly available so that more nations and their populations could benefit from it. The world can engage in a cooperative, international effort to develop these powerful AI technologies for humanity, or we can have a trade war – or, even worse, an arms race. A resurgence of internationalism focused on AI could be just what the world needs.