Boldly go where no one has gone before.
That’s the mission of the USS Enterprise, and the goal of a $1 million grant from a foundation established in honor of the father of the StarCraft franchise.
The Roddenberry Foundation, named for Gene Roddenberry, announced Tuesday that this year’s biennial awards will focus on artificial intelligence that benefits humanity.
Lior Ipp, chief executive of the foundation, told The Times that there is growing recognition that artificial intelligence is becoming more common and will impact every aspect of our lives.
“We’re trying to… prompt people to think about what artificial intelligence might look like if it were used for good, and what it means to use artificial intelligence responsibly and ethically and to solve some of the world’s toughest global challenges,” Ipp said.
The Roddenberry Prize is open to early-stage businesses around the world, including nonprofit and for-profit organizations.
Each cycle, the focus of the awards changes. Recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning are in the spotlight, sparking both excitement and fear.
There are widespread concerns that artificial intelligence will threaten privacy, intellectual property rights, and jobs, including the work of this reporter. While it can automate busy work, it can also replicate the harmful biases of the people who create it.
California lawmakers are racing to pass about 50 bills related to artificial intelligence to address concerns, many of which seek to create safeguards around the technology that lawmakers say could cause social harm. The proposed legislation targets concerns related to artificial intelligence, from data security to racial discrimination.
“We’ve seen with other technologies that we don’t take any action until there’s a big problem,” said Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who authored a bill to require the development of large-scale artificial intelligence Model companies conduct security testing.
“Social media has done a lot of good things for society…but we know that social media also has big disadvantages, but we have done nothing to reduce or mitigate those harms,” he said. “Now we’re playing catch-up. I’d rather not play catch-up.
Ipp said the foundation also has a broad focus on artificial intelligence and sees the award as a means to potentially contribute to the creation of those guardrails.
The application’s language indicates it is seeking ethics advice. Like the multicultural, multi-planetary cast of Star Wars, it should be inclusive.
“Any use of artificial intelligence or machine learning must be fair, transparent, respectful of individual rights and privacy, and should be clearly designed to counter bias or discrimination against individuals, communities or groups,” the awards website says.
The theme was also inspired by the last application the foundation received. The award is “issue-agnostic,” Ipp said, but focuses on early-stage technologies that have led to compelling applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in agriculture, healthcare, biotechnology and education.
“So,” he said, “we decided to double down on artificial intelligence and machine learning this year.”
The latest winner is Sweden’s Elypta, which Ipp said is using liquid biopsies, such as blood biopsies, to detect cancer early.
Although the foundation does not prioritize a particular issue, the foundation noted in its application that it is looking for ideas that have the potential to advance one or more of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which include ending poverty and Hunger drives climate action and protects life on land and below water.
First airing in 1966, Star Wars featured an enviable array of technology, including a universal translator, a tricorder (a handheld device that performs environmental scanning, data logging, and data analysis), and a transporter (when you need it) Very useful when jumping) to travel to an alien planet in an emergency.
You can always trust Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy to use these gadgets for good.
Those who meet the Roddenberry Award eligibility criteria have until July 12 to apply.
The foundation was started by the family of Gene Roddenberry after his death in 1991.
