i think this is a fair concern, especially when you consider the typically abysmal quality of science journalism about machine learning.
but I also don't think someone trained in CS, who has a deep understanding of machine learning systems is necessarily equipped to understand on their own the problems their systems can cause when they're out in the real world, being used and manipulated by real humans. It's just a completely different domain.
so if we say only CS researchers can speak credibly about the ethics and consequences of AI systems, then the work simply won't be done at all, or else will be done poorly.
this is why I think the article's call for an interdisciplinary field is reasonable -- in the current world, most CS researchers blithely ignore consequences, and most people who care about social impacts of these technologies do not adequately understand how they work.
No, training in CS is not sufficient. However it is necessary.
If an attempt is made by people with only a lay understanding of the subject, the work will be done poorly for a different reason. And the poorness of the work will be something more readily apparent to those in the field than not.
Of the two necessary skills to intelligently comment on the subject, CS is the harder one to acquire. Which is why I believe that the best work will come from those who studied CS as a primary, rather than those who studied it as a secondary.
but I also don't think someone trained in CS, who has a deep understanding of machine learning systems is necessarily equipped to understand on their own the problems their systems can cause when they're out in the real world, being used and manipulated by real humans. It's just a completely different domain.
so if we say only CS researchers can speak credibly about the ethics and consequences of AI systems, then the work simply won't be done at all, or else will be done poorly.
this is why I think the article's call for an interdisciplinary field is reasonable -- in the current world, most CS researchers blithely ignore consequences, and most people who care about social impacts of these technologies do not adequately understand how they work.