OCTOBER 2019CIOAPPLICATIONSEUROPE.COM9create a perfect sequence of interchanges as each vehicle crosses paths with another. Speed limits could be changed to suit the volume of traffic rather than linked to a specific road. The stop and go nature of traffic lights would become redundant as gaps for safe passage would be plotted on the same public ledger. Journey times would be reduced and passenger safety would be increased.This utopian world is the stuff of science fiction and has been pictured in many popular films. But it is also one we are close to now, if we allow it. Many cars today ship with self- driving capabilities and Tesla's sister company, Boring Company (think creating tunnels) has been testing traffic busting tunnels where cars travel at high speed on skies. How do we balance the desire for a smarter city against the rise of the machines, or perhaps more possible malicious use of that public ledger? Practically, as we evolve we want to use our data and let artificial intelligence tell us what to do with it. But morally we want to be protected from our data being misused. The other gap in this thinking is where we allow our data to be shared and assume artificial intelligence is going to give us back the correct answer. We're happy when Netflix uses AI to suggest a film we might like based on our viewing habits, if it gets this slightly wrong it's not an injustice. But when Amazon's AI recruitment tool was found to have built in bias toward male candidates it was shut down as it exposed an ugly truth.The AI learnt the difference between good and bad via information provided by its human creators. The ethical line had been crossed and a PR disaster had to be squashed. But what if the same logic could be used to detect criminal behaviour in our smart cities? Would it be acceptable to use AI to stop criminal acts before they happen (as depicted in the film Minority Report), even if later it was discovered that some of those activities were not criminal? Being innocent until proven guilty is our guidance here, but as our desire to be smarter pushes us to challenge the norm will we find it acceptable to adopt AI in our lives?Our insatiable desire for innovation has seen our cities become smart. Each evolutionary step has transformed our way of life, but it is this ethical debate that surrounds data privacy that is going to be the defining line that enables our next revolution and will power smart cities of the future. The AI learnt the difference between good and bad via information provided by its human creators
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