Local start-up BasisAI is preparing to go regional with "responsible" artificial intelligence, on the back of a collaboration with Facebook and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).

BasisAI's machine-learning Bedrock solution serves as a cyber auditor of AI algorithms by making their decision-making processes more transparent, and helping data scientists identify when an algorithm might be unfairly biased.

The company recently partnered Facebook and IMDA to mentor 12 other start-ups in the Asia-Pacific region to prototype ethical and efficient AI algorithms in a six-month programme that ended last month.

This programme was part of Facebook's Open Loop initiative, which aims to work with policymakers and tech companies around the world to develop regulatory frameworks for emerging technologies like AI.

BasisAI has inked a partnership with one of the 12 start-ups - Indonesian computer vision start-up Nodeflux - to further develop the explainability of the latter's facial recognition and object detection algorithm.

"We really want to partner with ambitious companies in financial services, healthcare and transportation across the region," said BasisAI chief executive Liu Fengyuan.

"We're seeing greater social awareness about responsible AI, and I think more companies are concerned now about the reputation risk from adopting AI that is a black box."

Last August, for example, the United Kingdom's Home Office abandoned a controversial AI algorithm that was used to process immigration visa applications, after campaigners decried the algorithm as "racist" for allegedly favouring certain nationalities over others.

The Home Office offered no explanation of how its AI tool worked at the time, and the algorithm was scrapped a week before a court's judicial review of its decision-making.

Responsible AI has also been at the centre of an ongoing spat between Google and its employees, which has led to the departure of two prominent AI researchers.

"A very simple example of responsible AI is Netflix's 'Because You Watched' (tab) that tells you, because you watched Wonder Woman, that's why we're recommending you these other shows," said Mr Liu.

"It takes away a bit of the creep factor when you are told (your viewing history) is one of the key contributors why these recommendations are shown to you, and not because something else is being tracked."

Bedrock was launched last June, less than two years after Mr Liu founded BasisAI with twin brothers Linus and Silvanus Lee in 2018.

Mr Liu was previously the director of the data science and AI division at the Government Technology Agency, while his two US-based co-founders have worked in data science roles at Twitter, Uber and Dropbox.

The company is currently working with DBS Bank, Accenture and PwC, among other partners.