Oita Coleman is a performance-driven executive with 30+ years in the tech industry. Oita is a former R&D Vice President of Software Quality at SAS Institute, with oversight of implementation of global processes, standards, and policies for the software development life cycle. She is now serving as Senior Advisor at the Open Voice Network, where she leads the privacy, security, and ethical use portfolios focused on voice-specific guidance for both the protection of individual and commercial user data privacy and security for consumer-facing enterprises worldwide. She was recognized as a Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Tech award recipient by the National Diversity Council. She received the inaugural Great Place to Work® For All™ Leadership Award, recognizing women leaders from the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For. Her efforts were also recognized by US Black Engineer & IT Magazine as “Women Who Make a Difference in Technology.”
In this article
- Identity, Disguise, and Generative AI
- How do we help integrate trustworthy AI into business processes, systems, and people?
This article is the second in a new series from Voices, which focuses on providing a platform for global thought leaders and advocates in Ethical AI to inform and educate the voice over industry.
Imagine receiving an email that compares your organization’s mission to the challenges of producing a Shakespearean play. The Open Voice TrustMark Initiative, dedicated to promoting trustworthy and ethical AI, suddenly finds itself in this conversation. What could these two worlds possibly have in common? And as the leader of this organization, how do you respond to such a thought-provoking inquiry that links the universal themes of trust, transparency and moral responsibility in both the arts and technology?
Trust is essential for conversational AI systems, which aim to create natural and meaningful interactions between humans and machines. We acknowledge that everyone who contributes to or benefits from these systems has a duty to ensure that they uphold established rights and fosters positive social values.
This is why the Open Voice Network created the TrustMark Initiative, an ethical AI verification that Voices endorses.
The Open Voice Network projects hope to achieve their vision through the communal development and adoption of industry standards and usage guidelines, industry education and advocacy initiatives, and the development and documentation of voice-centric value propositions.
OVN has built up a community of over 1,000 people, including many voice actors. These people come from a wide and diverse group of functions, interests, and roles. Everyone involved cares about protecting people and the brands that use voice as technology becomes more sophisticated.
The open-source technologies, standards, and guidelines we’re building will ensure that this technology continues to serve humanity and what needs to be done to continue protecting people based on widely adopted consensus sentiments.
“Oita, I have carefully reviewed your fascinating website and will be using the Ethical Guidelines for Voice Experiences this coming Fall for our production of Shakespeare’s Pericles. I co-run the Performing Arts Department … at one of the top high schools in the country serving gifted learners. This September, we will be exploring this lesser-known masterpiece with our company of 31 performers and an AI as the 32nd company member. It is an experiment, a risk, a research project, and ultimately, a performance for live audiences. I would be grateful for the chance to meet with you to talk through the cautions, pitfalls and incredible possibilities as I guide these wonderful students through a fully immersive and integrated experience with, for them, a very new technology.”
Challenge accepted!
I am excited to explore the possibilities with a teacher who has a novel idea of using AI as both a playwright and a character. The teacher/director is actually a voice artist who uses the Voices platform. She is aware of the maddening paradox of how AI has the potential to dramatically shift the voice over industry while simultaneously offering innovative and untried opportunities for artists of all kinds to explore and grow their work in completely new ways.
Identity, Disguise, and Generative AI
One of the main themes of the play is Identity, and Disguise is used as a tool to develop that theme. Characters often assume false identities or conceal their true selves, which can be parallelled with modern conversational and generative AI. Like the play’s characters, AI models can manipulate data to “disguise” their output by generating realistic images, text and voices. Both the characters in the play and AI raise ethical questions about transparency, accountability and trustworthiness. The opportunity to educate and engage with these bright young students is incredibly valuable. What we learn in the process will shape our efforts to remain relevant today and tomorrow.
As we develop the play, how can we integrate lessons on the ethical use of technology? How does it relate to trustworthiness and AI? In addition, young people are concerned about how AI will impact their futures. Is the technology trustworthy? Will it replace their jobs? What’s the point of college and pursuing a career? How does it affect their mental health?
These questions from younger generations are also relevant to enterprises everywhere.
How do we help integrate trustworthy AI into business processes, systems, and people?
The Open Voice TrustMark Initiative seeks to help individuals and organizations understand these challenges, with a focus on:
- Ethical use
- Privacy and security
- Health and wellness
- Media and entertainment
- K16 education
Our mission is to educate and advocate for creating conversational AI that’s trustworthy because it adheres to applicable laws and generally accepted ethical principles on data collection, retention, sharing, use and ownership.
Research by our diverse, global team has found that companies, individuals and organizations create trustworthy AI by adhering to six key principles across the AI lifecycle: privacy, transparency, accountability, inclusivity, sustainability and compliance.
This year, the Open Voice Trustmark badge will be available to acknowledge individuals, companies and organizations that demonstrate an understanding of the principles essential for implementing trustworthy AI. You can learn more at trustmarkinitiative.ai.
Through ongoing education, advocacy and collaboration, the Trustmark endeavors to navigate the complex landscape of AI ethics and ensure that technology serves humanity’s best interests. Upcoming initiatives include training courses on generative AI ethics and risk mitigation strategies, and the launch of a self-assessment and maturity model tool to aid organizations in assessing their trustworthy AI practices.
For more insights, check out the Linux Foundation Ed/X Training Course (Ethical Principles for Conversational AI), explore our whitepaper publications, and stay tuned for upcoming initiatives aimed at advancing the responsible use of AI.
Together, let’s shape a future where AI technologies empower and enrich lives while upholding ethical standards and societal values.
Comments
Much needed awareness and attention on the need and value of trustworthiness. Great work Oita!