BEIJING and GENEVA, Dec. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- During the twelfth annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) held this week in Geneva, Bytedance co-organized the workshop "Social Responsibility and Ethics in Artificial Intelligence: An East-West Dialogue" with the University of Zurich and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. This is the first instance Bytedance co-organized a workshop at the IGF, and the company is the only Chinese firm to have a proposed workshop chosen by the Forum this year.
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) serves to bring people together from various stakeholder groups as equals in discussions on public policy issues relating to the Internet. While there is no negotiated outcome, the IGF informs and inspires those with policy-making power in both the public and private sectors. At this annual meeting, delegates discuss, exchange information, and share best practices. The IGF facilitates a common understanding of how to optimize opportunities created by the Internet as well as address risks and challenges. The 12th IGF is held at the UN's offices in Geneva and themed "Shape Your Digital Future!". The Forum includes over 100 workshops discussing current and emerging topics in internet governance.
As one of the world's leading AI companies, Bytedance is committed to being a responsible stakeholder in the digital economy and the company has been actively participating in an international dialogue on the social impact and governance of AI. As part of this commitment, Bytedance co-organized an IGF workshop featuring a multidisciplinary group of experts from diverse geographies to discuss how AI technology will affect our society, and how government, academia, industry and civil society can work together to responsibly promote its development. The wide-ranging discussion touched on several topics, including AI technology's impact on employment and economic growth, laws and regulations governing AI, initiating and sustaining multi-stakeholder dialogue on AI, and AI companies' social responsibilities.
Among the many distinguished speakers participating in the panel were: Dr. Ma Yi, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley, Dr. Urs Gasser, Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School, Executive Director at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and Karen McCabe, Senior Director of Technology Policy and International Affairs at IEEE.
Ma Yi said at the conference, "The process from technological advancement to deployment at mass is something that requires a long time, this transformation and acceptance of users at scale requires a gathering of all the stakeholders to obtain a deep understanding of the technology and its applications." At a separate IGF workshop "Policy Challenges for AI Development", Ma used Bytedance's project Toutiao Missing Person Alerts as an example of how AI technology can be employed to benefit society. Toutiao Missing Person Alerts helps families look for missing relatives by sending alerts via the mobile application to Toutiao users who come within 10 kilometers of where a missing person was last spotted. As of December 2017, the project has helped reunite over 4,000 people with their families, leveraging advanced technologies to enhance a social cause.
Earlier this month, Bytedance held the first annual Global Festival for AI Ideas in Beijing, with esteemed collaborators including The Berkman Klein Center, which convened AI experts and innovators from all over the world to further a dialogue on the future of AI and its impact. Zhang Yiming, Bytedance Founder and CEO, stated in his opening remarks at the Festival that as AI becomes an increasingly integral part of society, Bytedance -- and its industry peers -- have a duty to ensure that companies and other stakeholders understand and anticipate the social impact of new technologies, and manage this impact responsibly.
Bytedance is also one of three sponsors of the AI Index, an initiative within the Stanford 100 Year Study on AI, to track, collate, distill and visualize data relating to artificial intelligence's development. And Bytedance has formed a global strategic partnership with EQUALS, a joint initiative of UN Women and ITU, the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technologies. Bytedance will work with EQUALS on programs in China that will empower women and girls by facilitating access to more opportunities in the digital economy.
About Bytedance
Founded in 2012, Bytedance owns a series of content platforms that enable people to connect with, consume, and create content through machine learning technology. Bytedance's flagship product, Toutiao, is the largest AI-powered mobile content platform in China. Toutiao delivers personalized content recommendations to every user based on their interests. Bytedance also operates a series of products popular with mobile users around the world, including TopBuzz, Flipagram, and musical.ly.
In 2016, Bytedance established an AI Lab which builds on the company's vast and complex datasets to develop state-of-the-art innovations in artificial intelligence.
Media Contacts
Jingjing Zhang
Bytedance
Zhangjingjing.pr@bytedance.com
