24 Association of Research Libraries Research Library Issues 299 2019 equity guide the development and implementation of technology. Since 2016, philanthropic foundations have devoted millions of dollars to support this new approach for American universities to prepare a new generation of “technologists” to work in civil service, education, and a full range of humanistic endeavors. The daunting challenges of AI have motivated major technology corporations such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft to emphasize fairness, ethics, and humanistic approaches to innovation. The London-based company DeepMind has made AI ethics central to the guidance of its technology. Since 2018, Google has published AI principles underscoring their commitment to fairness and avoiding developing AI weapons and other harmful forms of AI technology. In 2019, China’s Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence published ethical guidelines emphasizing fairness and sustainability. The World Economic Forum has likewise articulated ethical guidelines for the use of technology. Notwithstanding this important beginning, bringing ethical governance to technology will require a thoroughgoing transformation of humanities leadership. Colleges and universities will need to invest greater resources in humanistic programs of study. Humanistic disciplines must focus more urgently on recruiting and producing far more racial minorities and women in technology. Because technology innovation will bring massive changes to our democratic institutions and social systems, future technologists will have to include people with expertise in the human condition, policy, and social services. Equally important will be transdisciplinary communities of research and collaboration that must provide teams of diverse talent and expertise to guide the use of AI in higher education, law enforcement, After decades of worries that the popularity of science and technology paradigms threaten humanistic learning and scholarship, it is now becoming evident that unique opportunities are emerging to demonstrate why humanistic expertise and informed considerations of the human condition are essential to the very future of humanity in a technological age.
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