Kiroshi Opticals has agreed to submit future versions of SHIKAI, the perception model in its implants, to Frothly’s Blackwall programme for independent evaluation before release. The Foundation asked the company to do so, as its largest shareholder, in June 2023.
Blackwall evaluates AI systems before they are deployed, at the voluntary request of the laboratories that build them, and publishes what it finds. The company will submit SHIKAI 3 first, before its release in 2024.
“An implant decides what its wearer sees,” said Kiroshi Reiko, the Foundation’s chair. “The people wearing one deserve to know that someone independent has looked inside it. We are glad the company agreed, and grateful to Frothly for taking the work on.”
The Foundation will not fund Blackwall’s evaluations of Kiroshi Opticals systems and will not see the reports before they are published. The company has said it will submit its perception models; it will not submit the other software in its implants, which it says does not make decisions.