Tech Regulation Must Look Forward
Too Long; Didn't Read
In Los Angeles, formerly quiet residential neighborhoods suddenly rattle under the din of continuous rush hour traffic. Residents are furious, and protest that their home values have decreased and their children can no longer safely play outdoors. Drivers, meanwhile, are relieved to save ten minutes of their commute from the city’s infamously snarled freeways. The culprit, or savior, depending on whom you ask, is the intelligent routing algorithm of smartphone app Waze. Informed by real-time traffic data, Waze sends drivers on unconventional routes to avoid congestion. As with many cases of applied artificial intelligence, the algorithm optimizes specific variables to greatly benefit certain people, while unforeseen costs are borne by others. Mitigating the adverse outcomes of intelligent systems, while expanding their benefits to more people, will be one of the great challenges of the coming years.