Gathering Strength, Gathering Storms: The One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100) 2021 Study Panel Report

TL;DR

The AI100 2021 report assesses AI's rapid integration into society, highlighting risks, societal impacts, and the need for understanding potential negative effects amid significant recent advancements.

Contribution

This report provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary assessment of AI's societal impact, risks, and future challenges based on a long-term, periodic study framework.

Findings

AI has rapidly moved from labs to everyday life

Urgent need to understand AI's negative societal effects

AI development poses significant risks and societal challenges

Abstract

In September 2021, the "One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence" project (AI100) issued the second report of its planned long-term periodic assessment of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on society. It was written by a panel of 17 study authors, each of whom is deeply rooted in AI research, chaired by Michael Littman of Brown University. The report, entitled "Gathering Strength, Gathering Storms," answers a set of 14 questions probing critical areas of AI development addressing the major risks and dangers of AI, its effects on society, its public perception and the future of the field. The report concludes that AI has made a major leap from the lab to people's lives in recent years, which increases the urgency to understand its potential negative effects. The questions were developed by the AI100 Standing Committee, chaired by Peter Stone of the University of Texas at Austin, consisting of a group of AI leaders with expertise in computer science, sociology, ethics, economics, and other disciplines.