- AI ethics is the set of guiding principles that stakeholders use to ensure artificial intelligence technology is developed and used responsibly.
- Ethical considerations include ensuring that AI deployment benefits society as a whole and mitigates negative social impacts.
AI ethics is the moral principle that companies use to guide responsible and fair development and use of AI. Experts in the field have identified a need for ethical boundaries when it comes to creating and implementing new AI tools. Although there’s currently no wide-scale governing body to write and enforce these rules, many technology companies have adopted their own version of AI ethics or an AI code of conduct.
What is AI ethics
AI ethics is the set of guiding principles that stakeholders (from engineers to government officials) use to ensure artificial intelligence technology is developed and used responsibly. This means taking a safe, secure, humane, and environmentally friendly approach to AI.
A strong AI code of ethics can include avoiding bias, ensuring the privacy of users and their data, and mitigating environmental risks. Codes of ethics in companies and government-led regulatory frameworks are two main ways that AI ethics can be implemented. By covering global and national ethical AI issues, and laying the policy groundwork for ethical AI in companies, both approaches help regulate AI technology.
More broadly, discussion around AI ethics has progressed from being centered around academic research and non-profit organisations. Today, big tech companies like IBM, Google, and Meta have assembled teams to tackle ethical issues that arise from collecting massive amounts of data. At the same time, government and intergovernmental entities have begun to devise regulations and ethics policy based on academic research.
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Examples of AI ethics
The app Lensa AI used artificial intelligence to generate cool, cartoon-looking profile photos from people’s regular images in December 2022. According to The Washington Post, Lensa was being trained on billions of photographs sourced from the internet without consent. Some people criticised the app for not giving credit or enough money to artists who created the original digital art the AI was trained on.
Users interact with the AI model ChatGPT by asking questions. ChatGPT scours the internet for data and answers with a poem, Python code, or a proposal. One ethical dilemma is that people are using ChatGPT to win coding contests or write essays. It also raises similar questions to Lensa, but with text rather than images.
Aspects of AI ethics
1. Bias and fairness: AI systems can inadvertently perpetuate biases present in the data they are trained on, leading to unfair outcomes, especially in sensitive domains like hiring, lending, and law enforcement.
2. Transparency and explainability: Users and stakeholders often need to understand how AI systems make decisions. Ensuring transparency and explainability is crucial for building trust and accountability.
3. Privacy and security: AI systems often handle vast amounts of personal data. Protecting privacy and ensuring robust cybersecurity measures are essential to prevent misuse and breaches.
4. Accountability and responsibility: Determining who is responsible when AI systems fail or make harmful decisions is complex. Establishing clear lines of accountability is essential for addressing potential harms.
5. Impact on jobs and society: AI has the potential to automate tasks and reshape industries, impacting jobs and livelihoods. Ethical considerations include ensuring that AI deployment benefits society as a whole and mitigates negative social impacts.
