Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Rethinking DEI in an age of rapidly expanding artificial intelligence

I have always been fascinated by the idea of artificial intelligence (AI). I remember chatting back in the 1980s with a version of Eliza for Commodore 64. Eliza is a program created in 1964 by German American computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Rudimentary by today’s AI standards, Eliza is a natural language processor that converses with the user based on their input. It tries to mimic a real person and was one of the earliest applications to attempt what has come to be called the Turing test, a way of gauging a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligence. Passing this test, developed by English scientist Alan Turing, means a machine can conceal its identity, making a human believe it is another human.

I’ve been thinking back to that experience because we are now at a point where we must start considering how we will coexist with and treat truly intelligent machines. We’re not quite there yet, but the rapid advance of AI, and its integration into so many aspects of life, means this is a question that is no longer the providence of science fiction. It will be a real part of our future. Machine identity and rights will one day be an extension of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that we talk about in this issue of The ACCJ Journal.

AI is beginning to create content that is sparking questions about ownership. For some time, companies have been using AI-powered tools to give computers the task of writing articles, social media posts, and web copy. Now, AI-powered image-generation engines, such as Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and the Deep Dream Generator, have hit the mainstream. You may have seen some of their creations in the news. As these engines are trained on existing art, often scraped from the internet, there are questions about copyright and plagiarism. Stock media giant Getty Images announced on September 21 that it is banning AI-created art over these concerns.

Eventually, I believe, the visuals that machines create will become less obviously imitative and will express a view of the world unique to the creator, in the same way that the work of a human artist is an expression of the inner working of their mind. And when that happens, we really will have to ask ourselves what distinguishes us from machines.

Back to the Present

We still have some time before that question must be answered. For now, our focus can remain on the people who make our companies successful and our societies prosperous.

We explore DEI initiatives in this issue, along with sustainability efforts that can help ensure that our world has a healthy future.

I take to the road and the air on page 26 to explore the future of transportation and sustainability initiatives by member companies. I also talk to Bank of America’s Japan country executive and president of BofA Securities Japan, Tamao Sasada, on page 18 about the importance of diversity and the company’s efforts in the areas of DEI; environmental, social, and corporate governance; and sustainable finance.

I hope you enjoy this special issue and find useful ideas to help you achieve your own DEI and sustainability goals.

Sincerely yours, Eliza.