Introducing Our First Chinese Member to the Partnership on AI

The Partnership on AI was established to bring together diverse global voices to realize the promises, minimize the challenges, and better understand the impacts of artificial intelligence. Today, we are delighted to announce that our partnership has become a little more global, and even more diverse, with the inclusion of our first member from China – Baidu.

Baidu is a leading Chinese internet search provider. In recent years the business has evolved into a diverse technology conglomerate, with ventures in autonomous driving, smart assistants and AI platform services.

Baidu believes that, while vigorously promoting the development of AI technology, it is also necessary to research and take relevant measures to ensure the safety and controllability of the technology.

Therefore, the company has pushed forward with a series of initiatives aimed at limiting AI’s unintended consequences. For example, ‘safety and security’ is Baidu’s first principle in the development of autonomous driving, and recommended best practices for production scale autonomous driving systems were published in the industry’s first ‘Apollo Pilot Safety Report’ in July 2018.

Apollo, which is China’s largest open source autonomous driving platform, is one of Baidu’s three key new AI products along with DuerOS, a voice enabled digital assistant, and Baidu ABC, a smart cloud for the enterprise market. With these three products, Baidu is leading the charge in bringing AI into homes, automobiles and enterprises in China. Just as importantly, Baidu is committed to applying the highest ethical standards not only to these verticals but across all the company’s products and services.

Ya-Qin Zhang, President of Baidu Inc., said:

“As AI technology keeps advancing and the application of AI expands, we recognize the importance of joining the global discussion around the future of AI. Ensuring AI’s safety, fairness and transparency should not be an afterthought but rather highly considered at the onset of every project or system we build. The impact of a transformative technology like AI goes beyond borders, so we are looking forward to both sharing our own insights and learning from our international peers.”

Baidu’s admission represents the beginning of PAI’s entrance into China. We will continue to add new members in China and around the world as we grow, bringing together for-profit companies and civil society organizations.

Baidu’s AI leaders will join the Partnership’s existing Working Groups and forthcoming lines of programming, contributing to research projects that are intended to develop the policies, tools, and principles that will inform and drive responsible AI development and deployment.

The Partnership has now launched three Working Groups:

AI, Labor, and the Economy
Safety-Critical AI
Fair, Transparent, and Accountable AI

In addition to these Working Groups, further detail is forthcoming on the Partnership’s work within “Social and Societal Influences of AI”, “Collaborations Between People and AI Systems”, and “AI and Social Good”.

Terah Lyons, Executive Director of the Partnership on AI, said:

“Admitting our first Chinese member is an important step toward building a truly global partnership. The growth and scope of work on AI in China is extensive, and any conversation about the future of AI that does not involve China is an incomplete conversation. I look forward to seeing our members work together across borders, sectors, and disciplines to help shape the future of this critical technology, enabling the best possible outcomes for society.”

The Partnership on AI believes that we are early in AI’s history. At this early stage, it is vital that conversations exploring the future of AI are international, diverse, and representative. If successful, we have an opportunity to develop frameworks and tools together to help those building AI technologies do so in a responsible and thoughtful way. The Partnership on AI looks forward to engaging with China’s technological rise, given both its rapidness and scale of impact, and to including China’s AI leaders as part of the global AI conversation.

Notes

About PAI
The Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society was established to study and formulate best practices on AI technologies, to advance the public’s understanding of AI, and to serve as an open platform for discussion and engagement about AI and its influences on people and society. Our members believe in and endeavor to uphold a group of tenets that characterize and drive all of the Partnership’s work. These include the belief that AI research and development efforts need to be actively engaged with and accountable to a broad range of stakeholders, and a commitment to maximizing the benefits and addressing the potential challenges of AI technologies by working to protect the privacy and security of individuals. You can read our full list of tenets here.

About Baidu
Baidu, Inc. is the leading Chinese language Internet search provider. Baidu’s mission is to make a complex world simpler through technology. After years of commercial exploration, Baidu has formed a comprehensive AI ecosystem. Baidu is now at the forefront of the AI industry in terms of fundamental technological capability, speed of productization and commercialization, and “open” strategy.

中国成员加入Partnership on AI

Partnership on AI的建立是为了汇集全球各种不同的声音，以实现人工智能发展带来的机遇、减少人工智能的挑战，并更好地了解人工智能的影响。今天，我们很高兴地宣布，我们的Partnership on AI变得更加全球化，甚至更加多元化，因为第一个来自中国的成员——百度，加入了我们的合作组织。

百度是中国领先的互联网搜索服务商。近年来，百度已发展成为一家多元化的高科技公司，涉足自动驾驶，智能助理和人工智能平台服务。

百度认为，在大力推进人工智能技术发展的同时，也应该研究和采取相关举措来确保该技术的安全性及可控性等。因此，百度推出了一系列旨在限制人工智能意外后果的举措。例如，百度认为“安全与保障”是自主驾驶发展的首要原则。2018年7月，百度发布了第一份《Apollo Pilot安全报告》，这是第一份探讨生产规模自动驾驶系统安全问题的报告。

Apollo是中国最大的开源自动驾驶平台，是百度三大关键新人工智能产品之一，除此外，百度还有智能语音系统DuerOS和专注企业市场的百度ABC智能云。凭借这三款产品，百度正在引领人工智能进入中国的家居，汽车和企业。同样重要的是，百度不仅致力于将最高的道德标准应用于这些垂直领域，而且应用于公司的所有产品和服务。

百度公司总裁张亚勤表示：

“随着人工智能技术的不断发展和其应用的扩大，我们意识到，加入这个探讨AI发展前景的全球性机构十分重要。确保人工智能的安全性、公平性和透明性不应该是事后的想法，而是我们在构建每一个项目或系统时应该认真考虑的事。AI领域变革性技术的影响是没有国界的，我们期待分享自己的见解，同时也向国际同行学习。“

百度的加入代表了中国公司参与Partnership on AI的开始。随着我们的发展，我们将继续在中国和世界各地吸纳新成员，将营利性企业与民间组织聚集起来。

百度的AI负责人将加入Partnership on AI当前的工作组，共同参与未来推出的各项计划，为各种政策制定、工具开发和原则确定的研究项目助力。这将促进人工智能的开发与发展。

Partnership on AI现已启动了三个工作小组：

人工智能、人力和经济
安全攸关的人工智能
公平、透明和负责任的人工智能

除这些工作组外，我们还将进一步详细介绍Partnership on AI在“人工智能的社会和社会影响”、“人与人工智能系统之间的合作”和“人工智能与社会公益”等方面的工作。

Partnership on AI执行董事Terah Lyons表示：

“此次吸纳我们的首个中国成员，预示着我们在建立一个真正全球性的合作机构道路上迈出了重要一步。在中国，人工智能增长迅猛、范围极广。在探讨人工智能发展前景时，如果没有中国的参与，那么这种讨论就是不完整的。我期待看到我们的成员能齐心协力，打破国界、行业和学科的限制，规划这项重大技术的发展前景，最大限度地造福人类社会。”

Partnership on AI认为我们目前仍处在人工智能的发展初期。在这个阶段，探索人工智能未来发展的对话必须具有国际性、多样性和代表性，这样我们就有机会共同制定一些框架和工具，从而帮助企业认真负责地开发人工智能技术。鉴于中国科技崛起的速度和影响力，Partnership on AI期待着中国参与到这场科技浪潮中，并吸引中国的人工智能领军人物参与到全球的人工智能讨论中来。

关于PAI
The Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society 的成立是为了研究和制定人工智能技术的最佳实践，提高公众对人工智能的理解，并作为人工智能及其对人类和社会影响的讨论和参与的开放平台。我们的成员相信并坚定奉行一系列原则，这些原则体现并推动了所有Partnership on AI的工作。 其中包括认为人工智能研究和开发工作需要积极参与并对广泛的利益相关方负责，并致力于通过保护个人的隐私和安全来最大限度地发挥效益并应对人工智能技术带来的一些潜在挑战。 您可以在此处阅读我们的所有原则。

关于百度

百度公司是领先的中文互联网搜索引擎服务商，并致力于用科技让复杂的世界更简单。经过多年的商业探索，百度已经形成了一个全面的人工智能生态系统。百度在基础技术能力、产品化、商业化速度以及“开放”战略方面都走在了人工智能行业的前列。

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