Incentives forPublicGoodAIInnovation

YoshuaBengioMarch 23rd, 2020

AIis aPowerful Tool

• AI=tool• Dual-use• Wisdom race:advances intechnology vsadvances inwisdom

• Where doour current incentive systems leadus?

• We need toinnovate howwe regulate andincentivize

Montreal Declaration (2017)

https://www.montrealdeclaration-responsibleai.com/the-declaration

Howcan governments efficientlystimulate AI-based innovation forlong-term publicgood?

AI:Data&Knowledge asPublicGoods

• AIneeds data,butdataandknowledge areoften hidden notjustbecause ofprivacy reasons butbecause ofmarket forces:competition

• E.g.ofsharingdataaboutassays onnovel drugs forCOVID-19,infectiousdiseases,etc

• Scienceprogressesefficiently only ifinformationis shared

• Knowledge anddataarepublicgoods• Canbe prioritized where socialimpactis greater andeasier toregulate

Aligning theobjectiveofprivate actorswith societal needs

• Private capitalmostly seeks profitS(stockprice)• Market failures when maximizing profithurts ordoes nothelpsocietal needs G(publicgood)

• Canbe fixed with appropriate incentives,including:• carbon pricing,carbon market• grants toderisk ormake some innovationprofitable

RunningExample:Long-term societal valueofantimicrobial therapies

• IfXcould invent adrug with insufficient commercialprofitPbutsocietalvalueV >P,governments should incentivize Xwith expectedgovernment reward V-Pifsuccessful,butwe only knowlater!

• E.g.fordrugs,Vprop.to#DALYs (disability-adjusted life-years)saved• Measurable outcome may comeyears later

FinancialMarketsforGenericPublicGoods

• Therealready aremarkets forsome generic publicgoods,like carbonemission markets

• Therecould be markets formany other publicgoodsE.g.DALYs =years ofdisability-freelifesaved byinnovative therapies=market forinnovationswith apotential fordownstream DALYs

• Worksonly ifthere is credible long-term commitment bygovernmentstoprovide theexpected incentives (rewards)overthelong-term

Short-Term De-Risking &Long-Term Rewards

• Grantsprovide short-term de-risking bypayingcompanies forpartofthecosts ofR&D

• Nostrong incentive toachieve thestrategicgoalsstated bythegovernment

• Better:grants (short-term de-risking)+long-term rewards (performance-based rewards)ifsocietal valueandmilestones materialize(same role asprofits)

RunningExample:TransformativePotential ofAIinMolecule Discovery

• AIis poised todisrupt drug discovery andmaterials discovery:tools toefficiently search inthespace ofmolecules (drug-like,peptides,antibodies,materials)• Exponential advantage :reduce costs &discovery time,improve efficacy ofsolutions

• Big dataopportunity:synthetic biology &robotics forlarge-scale screening• Problem:current industry practicebased onsecrecy,nodatasharing

EfficientInnovationviaOpenScience&DataSharing

• Academicresearch canbe much moreefficientbecause ofopenscience,buildingoneach other’s advances,insights,results anddata• AIInnovationis moreefficientwith shared data• Howtobring that globalefficiency toindustrial innovation?

• Forgovernment-funded innovation,tie thefunding toopen-scienceopen-dataconstraints andrewards (linked tousefulness ofshared information)

Tragedy oftheCommons&Need forInternationalCoordination(with teeth)

• Self-interest is notsufficient toprotect andfavour publicgoods• Tragedy ofthecommons example:greenhouse gases emission• Potential collectivevalueoffully shared knowledge notrealized bypurely

individual interests ofcompanies,butallwould benefit ifallshared

• Governments muststep intoprotect anddevelop publicgoods• Internationalpublicgoods arenotwell handled currently,unlessenough countriescoordinate toenforce similar standards• E.g.,need totie shared valueofpublicgoods with internationalcommerce• E.g.,coordinated internationalefforttoapply AIindrug discovery forpublic

health concerns like infectious diseases andantibiotics resistance

Take-homeRecommendations

1.Provide government funding ofAIinnovationin2steps:a. grant forcosts,asusualb. downstream performance-based payments

2.Funding comes with stringsattached andrewards toencouragea. sharingresults (openscience)b. sharingdata(opendata)