Skip to main content

These ingenious ideas could help make AI a little less evil

Right now, there’s plenty of hand-wringing over the damage artificial intelligence (AI) can do. To offset that, Firefox maker Mozilla set out to encourage more accountable use of AI with its Responsible AI Challenge, and the recently announced winners of the contest show that the AI-infused future doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom.

The first prize of $50,000 went to Sanative AI, which “provides anti-AI watermarks to protect images and artwork from being used as training data” for the kind of large-language models that power AI tools like ChatGPT. There has been much consternation from photographers and artists over their work being used to train AI without permission, something Sanative AI could help to remedy.

profile of head on computer chip artificial intelligence
Digital Trends Graphic

Kwanele Chat Bot was the $30,000 runner-up, and it “aims to empower women in communities plagued by violence by enabling them to access help fast and ensure the collection of admissible evidence.” Third place and $20,000 went to Nolano, which is a “trained language model that uses natural language processing to run on laptops and smartphones.”

As well as the cash prizes, all of the winners will be mentored by AI industry leaders and gain access to Mozilla’s “resources and communities.”

Tremendous potential

The winners of Mozilla's 2023 Responsible AI Challenge stand on a stage holding their prize checks.
Mozilla

The competition comes at a time of increasing concern over the powers of AI — and the potential for artificial intelligence to cause harm. In March 2023, numerous tech leaders signed an open letter calling on a pause on AI development due to its risks, while earlier this week a similar open letter was published warning that “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”

But it doesn’t have to be all bad. As Joshua Long, Chief Security Analyst at security firm Intego, recently told Digital Trends, “Like any tool in the physical or virtual worlds, computer code can be used for good or for evil.” While AI’s vast computational abilities could be used for nefarious purposes, they can also be channeled towards solving some of the most pressing problems facing humanity.

Indeed, the Mozilla Responsible AI Challenge suggests that there is plenty of good that can be done when AI is put to use. We’ve already seen some amazing uses for ChatGPT, and Mozilla’s contest could encourage further beneficial experimentation in this field.

What’s certain is that we’re only beginning to see what AI is capable of, and it’s imperative to ensure that it’s put to use as a force for good. As Mozilla’s prize winners have shown, AI has tremendous potential waiting to be unlocked.

Editors' Recommendations

Alex Blake
In ancient times, people like Alex would have been shunned for their nerdy ways and strange opinions on cheese. Today, he…
Apple’s ChatGPT rival is reportedly ‘significantly behind competitors’
The Siri activation animation on an iPhone running iOS 14.

There has been much chatter recently about Apple working on its own ChatGPT rival called Apple GPT. Well, we’ve just had some bad news: the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot is apparently years away from release.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo put a dampener on expectations in a recent blog post, where he outlined his expectations for what could positively or negatively affect Apple stock prices in the coming months. Apple GPT is so far away from readiness, Kuo believes, that it simply won’t impact Apple stock prices any time soon.

Read more
Hackers are using AI to create vicious malware, says FBI
A hacker typing on an Apple MacBook laptop while holding a phone. Both devices show code on their screens.

The FBI has warned that hackers are running wild with generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT, quickly creating malicious code and launching cybercrime sprees that would have taken far more effort in the past.

The FBI detailed its concerns on a call with journalists and explained that AI chatbots have fuelled all kinds of illicit activity, from scammers and fraudsters perfecting their techniques to terrorists consulting the tools on how to launch more damaging chemical attacks.

Read more
Even OpenAI has given up trying to detect ChatGPT plagiarism
A laptop screen shows the home page for ChatGPT, OpenAI's artificial intelligence chatbot.

OpenAI, the creator of the wildly popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT, has shut down the tool it developed to detect content created by AI rather than humans. The tool, dubbed AI Classifier, has been shuttered just six months after it was launched due to its “low rate of accuracy,” OpenAI said.

Since ChatGPT and rival services have skyrocketed in popularity, there has been a concerted pushback from various groups concerned about the consequences of unchecked AI usage. For one thing, educators have been particularly troubled by the potential for students to use ChatGPT to write their essays and assignments, then pass them off as their own.

Read more