Notre Dame professor talks A.I. development, responsible A.I. use

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A.I. company Anthropic recently put out a warning, saying A.I. models are improving so quickly they could develop on their own, without humans—adding the A.I. industry needs a ‘brake pedal’ to prevent companies from losing control of these systems.

Nitesh Chawla, PhD, is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Notre Dame and the Lucy Family Director for Data & A.I. Academic Strategy.

He says a pause on A.I. development isn’t likely, but there needs to be improvements to it as it develops.

“My concern is it's not that one can genuinely put brake pedals at one company and assume that's applicable for all companies, or one can put brake pedals at one country and assume all countries are going to abide by it,” said Chawla.

He says this needs to be addressed with a clear, developed plan–with governance and accountability mechanisms in place.

“So, we really have to take a very significant approach to that, and we do it with all the other industries. Right, you wouldn't step into an airplane if it's not gone through a safety measurement evaluation. You wouldn't step into a car,” said Chawla.

He says this moment calls for an understanding of A.I. systems to learn more about both the risks and benefits of them.  

“Whether we think about, you know, misinformation, or we think of the deepfakes, which can be produced now at an industrial scale, right? Or, you know, labor displacement, etc. Bias, prejudice, you know-- in the systems,” said Chawla.

As far as understanding A.I. and responsible use of it, Chawla pointed to continued efforts at the University of Notre Dame to address the ever-changing A.I. landscape. Through education, research, partnerships and dialogue about the technology.

“Yes, they are risks, but there are also beautiful gifts. And through those gifts, how can we empower, for example, some of the work that we're doing in [the] healthcare setting, or some of the work that we're doing in city governance as well,” said Chawla.

Dr. Chawla previously spoke with ABC57’s Sidney Moore about how Notre Dame is using Pope Leo’s recently released encyclical as a roadmap for navigating the A.I. landscape. Read more here.