Internally, the panel advices the company. To guarantee the independence of the EAP within company structure, the Panel has its own budget and its Chief Officer does not answer to the CEO but to the Chairman of the board. And, importantly, added Firth-Butterfield, the EAP was established before the go-to-market strategy of the company came into place.

The external function of the EAP is to contribute to the public debate around AI. "We should engage with government, academics, the public and other people in the industry in our conversations around ethics and AI. We want the EAP to be a resource, not only to Lucid but to the wider community", said Firth-Butterfield.

She emphasized the importance of collaboration between the institutes that focus on issues in AI like CSER, The Future of Life Institute and the IEEE industry standards body. Firth-Butterfield: "The EAP seeks to amplify and support the work of others in this space. I think it is important that we all have conversations in this space. I don't think any of us can go it alone. The more we bring great minds together, the better chances we have of dealing with the coming disruptions that AI will cause."  

Lucid's explainer video of Cyc
 

Image: Nao robot.