Ethical Issues in Using Ai Technology Today

Artificial intelligence is making its way into the daily lives of people all over the world and this has raised concerns regarding how these systems can be programmed and used in an ethical yet still effective manner. The introduction of AI to replace systems that may require a human to operate has the potential to create millions of jobs, but destroy even more blue collar jobs. While at face value this new technology will have its basic advantages and disadvantages of adopting in the household, there is a deeper ethical debate going on of how these systems should be created and treated in a manner that prevents a potential catastrophe due to artificial intelligence acting in a way that it should not. Human bias is impossible to avoid being present in artificial intelligence due to the fact that humans are the ones developing this technology, and an unethical bias in the basic foundation of machines that are learning on their own can lead to disaster. This ethical question needs to be answered to find a way to make these machines act in an ethical manner, and this brings up many questions like what does acting ethically even look like. This article proposes that the creation of artificial intelligence technologies should hold checks and balances that are enforced by a selected diverse group of people with experience in philosophy and engineering to compromise on the best solutions ethically and technologically. In today’s society, artificial intelligence, or the development of machines able to perform tasks that would usually require human intelligence, is beginning to make its way into everyday use where humans are no longer required to run machines and make decisions. While it may seem like machines are only controlling behind-the-scenes, minor aspects of our lives, artificial intelligence is already in place making decisions that support life-critical scenarios and beginning to become an integral part of the common household. Without even being aware of it, whether they have “smart” technology in their home or they work with machines at work, millions of people use artificial intelligence on a daily basis. Artificial intelligence is starting to become an integral aspect a of the technology in our lives, and while it make things smarter, easier, and more convenient, there are many that fight for the governed restriction of the development of AI. This is where the ethics behind artificial intelligence surface, along with the rising debate of how it can be ensured that these machines being built are doing things that align with the values of a civilized society.

Background of the study

This research dives into the ethical dilemma that modern societies face in the development of machines using artificial intelligence. With artificial intelligence being such a new and quickly progressing technology, it has yet to be seen how governance of this technology will be treated, so this has brought to light a serious ethical debate on how AI and autonomous tech should be developed and used. With the rise of the internet of things and the use of artificial intelligence of our daily lives, the media is starting to discuss blatant issues with this technology that the average consumer may be oblivious to due to their fascination of the technology. After it came out that assistants like the Amazon Echo are listening to everything you hear and some of it may be used to influence advertisements that you will see weeks later, the ethics behind artificial intelligence emerged as a vital topic to debate and possibly regulate because it can get dangerous in the hands of unrestricted big corporations. Artificial intelligence is a relatively new technology, so the debate and writing on this topic is very recent. The topic is currently relevant as the media has been heavily covering personal security in the wake of the publicizing of how user data is used on big social media platforms and technology leaders like Mark Zuckerberg having to face a hearing from the Senate. As the issue of how artificial intelligence is used becomes more personal and closer to the consumer, consumer discussion about it will increase and there will be more written about the topic, and that is what has been happening in the field of ethics in technology, and specifically AI. This brings up two important questions that will need to be answered properly to allow the public to become comfortable with artificial intelligence: how will the ethical debate behind artificial intelligence affect the progression of the technology’s development and who will be held accountable for ethical issues that these machines encounter?

Ethical issues in practice

Mass Layoffs

With the emergence of major artificial intelligence development, it is estimated that, by 2030, as much as 50 million jobs relating to developing and deploying new technology will be created. However, the same people that found this statistic address later that this job creation may not be as good as it seems, later stating that, by 2030, an estimated 400 million to 800 million people could be displaced by automation and will need to switch occupational niches and learn new skills. The leader of this study, James Manyika, takes a more submissive approach when discussing how to address the jobs that will be lost as opposed to fighting against the technological changes. Manyika says, “We will all need creative visions for how our lives are organized and valued in the future, in a world where the role and meaning of work start to shift.” As opposed to acknowledging if getting rid of so many jobs in order to automate the tasks that businesses conduct may be unethical, Manyika calls upon policymakers, business leaders, and individuals workers to prepare themselves so that they do not fall behind when the workforce undergoes drastic shifts.

Asimov’s Laws

Others have expressed concerned regarding the current inability to teach our machines to be ethical. Gary Marcus cited the three famous laws from Isaac Asimov to give a potential solid foundation to follow for the future of machine ethics that say that a robot may not injure a human being or bring one to harm, a robot must obey the orders given by humans unless it conflicts with the first law, and a robot must protect its existence unless that conflicts with the first two laws. However, he makes it clear that with current technology, a machine could not be programmed with Asimov’s laws. In addition, Marcus says that these laws could be too restrictive when it comes to robots that need to be used in combat. On the flip side, he discusses the fact that, while humans may struggle to find a way to ethically make robots, the way that robots are treated may be immoral as well. Marcus sites computer scientist Kevin Korb by saying that “Asimov’s laws effectively treat robots like slaves. Perhaps that is acceptable for now, but it could become morally questionable (and difficult to enforce) as machines become smarter and possibly more self-aware.” Lastly, he concludes by saying that while it seems like a simple programming challenge to instill human, civilized ethics into artificial intelligence, it is more of a challenge regarding human ethics themselves, something that is still a work-in-progress. Philosophers have been debating ethics and what the right thing to do in different scenarios is for centuries, so it is not as simple as plugging an ethics code into a robot. Gary Marcus knows that building machines with a conscience is a tough and important task that requires the gathering of philosophers, engineers, and legislators.

Inevitable Bias

While it will take many groups of people to come together in order to input accurate human ethics and actions into autonomous machines, human bias can accidentally be programmed into these machines. A study by ProPublica found that a software that was used for determining decisions that had to do with sentencing and bail was more likely to label someone that was black than white as someone who would repeat their offense in the future. The study showed that the program known as COMPAS had 44.9% of African Americans labeled as higher risk, but did not re-offend, while it was only 23.5% white. However, 47.7% of whites that the program analyzed were labeled as a lower risk but did re-offend, while just 28% of African Americans were labeled lower risk but did re-offend. This study states that the evident bias in the system that marked African Americans as higher risk as a base was not put in purposely, but biases of developers and the ethics of a specific developer may leak into the development of a program and result in the artificial intelligence not having fair ethical reasoning.

Discussion

Despite all of this research pointing out the flaws behind artificial intelligence and the problems that may arise due to a real ethics issue that is present, there is no question that AI, if done right, can absolutely change the world, making everyone's lives easier. This revolution will not only require humans to think about how they can make these machines think more ethically, but it will require humans to think about how they themselves think. Biases that have been proven to be present in existing artificial intelligence programs that are in use stem from the natural unethical bias of the common man, so philosophy and learning how one should think may be just as important in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning as computer science and engineering is. All of these studies dive into the ethics behind the progression of artificial intelligence and machine learning but share one specific thing that would be essential to develop an ethical way to implement artificial intelligence successfully into our lives, self-reflection. Without people thinking about how to actually think and being self-aware about flaws in the human psyche, there can be no progression in the positive development of good ethical standards and morals of robots, and this debate of ethics in the artificial intelligence field spawns that necessary self-reflection.

Conclusion

The adaptation of artificial intelligence is inevitable, and it has recently picked up in its use by the average consumer, so the problems with this technology need to be addressed immediately. While there are plenty of criticisms about this technology and all the ways that it will hurt our world, with proper checks and balances, this technology will help us even more. Like any power in the world, such as a government, there are many ways in which it can hurt the people without being held in check. But when there is a balance of, in this case, freedom and liberty of the people and power of the states and national government, it manages to keep most people happy. This is needed for artificial intelligence. There needs to be a dedicated group of high-level thinkers that address the potential issues of machine learning and AI on a regular basis and are trusted to be decisions that regulate this technology. If corporations and the military are given too much freedom with this, any moral duty to the people could easily be avoided and this technology can be used in negative ways that could hurt the masses. A dedicated group to keep this progress in check will allow resources for this technology to be used efficiently in ways that will benefit and protect the people in an ethical manner.