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The Future of AI Ethics

What are the ethical challenges of artificial intelligence? Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed the way we live and work, revolutio...

What are the ethical challenges of artificial intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has transformed the way we live and work, revolutionizing industries and enhancing efficiency. However, as AI becomes increasingly integrated into our lives, ethical concerns have arisen regarding its impact on society, privacy, and human rights. In this comprehensive article, we’ll explore the multifaceted landscape of AI ethics, highlighting its importance, key considerations, and potential solutions.

What are ethics in AI?

AI ethics is a system of moral principles and techniques intended to inform the development and responsible use of artificial intelligence technology. As AI has become integral to products and services, organizations are starting to develop AI codes of ethics. An AI code of ethics, also called an AI value platform, is a policy statement that formally defines the role of artificial intelligence as it applies to the continued development of the human race.

The purpose of an AI code of ethics is to provide stakeholders with guidance when faced with ethical decisions regarding the use of artificial intelligence. Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov foresaw the potential dangers of autonomous AI long before they were developed and created the Three Laws of Robotics to limit those risks.

In Asimov’s Code of Ethics, the first law prohibits robots from harming humans or allowing harm through inaction. The second law requires robots to obey humans unless those commands conflict with the first law. The third law allows robots to defend themselves, provided it does not violate the first two laws.

Building on these ideas, today’s AI ethics also emphasizes "AI for social good." This approach focuses on leveraging AI to address societal challenges, such as healthcare, education, and environmental sustainability, while ensuring that AI technologies are used fairly and without bias. The goal is to ensure that AI not only avoids harm but actively benefits society.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence over the past 5–10 years has prompted expert groups to develop safeguards against the risks posed by artificial intelligence to humans. One such group is a non-profit institute founded by MIT cosmologist Max Tegmark, Skype founder Jaan Tallinn and DeepMind researcher Victoria Krakovna.

The institute worked with AI researchers and developers, as well as researchers from many fields, to create 23 guidelines, now called the Asilomar AI Principles. Kelly Combs, director of KPMG’s Digital Lighthouse, said that when developing an AI code of conduct, it is “absolutely important to include clear guidelines for the adoption and ongoing monitoring of the technology.”

These policies should require measures that protect against unintentional bias in machine learning algorithms, continuously identify data and algorithm, and track both the origin of the data and the identity of those training the algorithms.

Why are AI ethics important?

Artificial intelligence is technology developed by humans to duplicate, supplement or replace human intelligence. These tools typically rely on large amounts of different types of data to provide insights. Poorly designed projects based on faulty, insufficient or biased data can have unintended, potentially harmful consequences. In addition, the rapid development of algorithmic systems means that in some cases it is not clear to us how the AI ​​reached its conclusions, so we rely mainly on systems that we cannot explain to make decisions that affect society.

An ethical framework for AI is important because it sheds light on the risks and benefits of AI tools and provides guidance for its responsible use. Developing a system of moral principles and techniques for the responsible use of AI requires industry and stakeholders to look at the big social issues and ultimately the question of what makes us human.

What are the benefits of ethical AI?

The rapid acceleration of AI adoption in businesses has coincided with, and in many cases contributed to, two main trends: the rise of customer centricity and social activism. “Companies are rewarded not only for offering personal products and services, but also for increasing customer value and doing good for the society in which they operate,” says Sudhir Jha, head of Brighterion at Mastercard.

AI plays a huge role in how consumers interact with and perceive a brand. Responsible use is necessary to ensure a positive effect. In addition to consumers, employees want to feel good about the companies they work for. “Responsible AI can go a long way in retaining talent and ensuring the smooth running of business operations,” Jha said.

Some argue that the ethics of AI can quickly become outdated and that a more proactive approach is needed to adapt to the rapidly evolving field. Arijit Sengupta, founder and CEO of Aible, an AI development platform, said: “The main problem with AI code of ethics is that it is reactive, not proactive. We tend to define things like bias, look for bias and try to eliminate it. . It — — like that’s possible.”

A reactive approach may have difficulty dealing with bias in the data. For example, the fact that women have historically been unable to access loans at appropriate interest rates is intertwined with the data in several ways. “If you remove the variables associated with gender, the AI ​​simply picks up other variables that act as proxies for gender,” Sengupta said.

He believes that the future of ethical AI must be about defining justice and social norms. For example, in a lending bank, management and AI teams should decide if they want to ask for equal weighting (eg loans processed at the same speed in all competitions), relative results (the success of each competition is relative). ). equal) or equal impact (ensuring that a proportional number of loans go to each competition).

The focus should be on the guiding principle rather than the avoidable principle, argued Sengupta. Most people would agree that it is easier and more effective to teach children what their guiding principles should be than to list all the possible decisions they face and tell them what to do and what not to do. “This is our approach to AI ethics,” Sengupta said.

“We tell the child everything they can and can’t do, instead of providing guidelines and letting them figure it out for themselves.” Right now, we need to turn to people to develop the policies and technologies that promote responsible AI. That includes software products and offerings that protect people’s interests and are not biased toward certain groups, such as minorities, people with special needs and the poor, Shepherd said.

The latter is particularly worrisome, as AI could fuel massive social and economic warfare by widening the gap between those who can afford technology (including human augmentation) and those who cannot. At the same time, we must also plan for the unethical use of AI by bad actors. 

Today’s AI systems range from fancy rule engines to machine learning models that automate simple tasks. “It could be decades before more sentient AIs emerge that can automate their unethical behavior to a degree that humans cannot continue,” Shepherd said