AI Ethics: A Challenge Tech Must Tackle Head-On

“We don't correct the bias in queries… it is what they want… right?”

-???????CEO, of an AI-based HR Firm

The above are the quotes of the CEO of an HR start-up that aims to leverage AI to become a leading recruiting company soon. The company recently celebrated a milestone of launching an AI chatbot that will act as the 1st level of contact between the firm and the client to know their requirements. The said person boasted unprompted, how they do not correct the queries for ethnic, gender or regional biases as it is part of the minor details in demands that are requested by the clients. Fulfilling these exact demands only improves the quality of service.

Such a notion exposes the larger problem of general moral bankruptcy in the tech sector which is increasingly exposing itself as brace ourselves for a future where technology integrates more and more in our lives.

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In the last couple of years, the advancement in AI has been rapid. We have been consumers of AI and machine learning through products and services which has made us more and more dependent on the ‘wisdom’ of machines, sparking conversations about AI ethics. Tech leaders and Scientists like Elon Musk and the late Dr. Stephen Hawking had voiced the need for a robust governance system before the integration of AI.?With the advent of Generative AI, the concerns have been increasingly acknowledged by Governments around the world and several issues like the risk of propagation of biases and misinformation, plagiarism, piracy, and the need for responsible use of AI, etc. While these issues are yet to be sorted, the mainstream debate and deliberation on uses of AI has initiated a healthy trend of ethical deliberation among the tech industry which otherwise seems to be less perturbed by the larger possible impact of their role in the economy and society.?Barring movements to promote net neutrality, and digital privacy and prevent internet censorship the digital economy has not collectively dealt with societal questions related to discrimination and biases and has escaped them through iterating that the digital tools only reflect the pre-existing social fissures in society. The profit-driven technocrats have seldom reflected on their role in promoting and propagating social evils.

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The deliberation on the responsible use of AI and AI ethics is bringing forth a much-needed conversation on ethical awareness and consciousness of technical professionals. Tech giants like Google and IBM have launched their guidelines on responsible use of AI and have integrated it as a learning module on AI upskilling courses. Currently,?the tech-professionals cannot deny the direct influence of their products in creating biases which is forcing the industry to think about what are biases. Ethnic and gender identities, academic background, locational preferences, etc, knowingly and unknowingly, introduced to AI tools through training models are being examined contextually to understand their element of bias and discrimination. This is a challenge that perhaps the tech professionals, at least in India, are hardly equipped to deal with.

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Despite (the piecemeal) efforts to introduce general ethics, environmental consciousness etc. and other socially responsible disciplines in tech-education curriculum, the focus and quality of ethical education for tech professionals is largely seen as an unnecessary and extra-curricular engagement. The tech professionals rarely examine their roles or the roles of their organization from an ethical perspective and agree to be a part of an ecosystem driven by profit to fulfill their aspirations of personal gratification in the form of large ‘salary packages’. Further, the recent focus of ethical governance through ESG reflected in policies of diversity hiring, environmental consideration, transparency etc., is often viewed with a sense of wariness. As a nation with rising tech entrepreneurs, it is concerning to think that?the understanding, consciousness and the foundational skills to understand ethical issues involved at the intersection of society-technology is limited among the sector professionals. Further, with rise of AI , as people who will train these foundational models for disbursing services that will interfere with all walks of life(with or without support of a policy expert) it becomes immensely important for tech professionals to take ethics in AI governance seriously and make a conscious effort to develop an understand.

In a recently viral Convocation speech by a fine youth IIT Chennai Graduate Dhanajay Balakrishnan, imploring his batchmates to ‘interrogate their position in the complex system of power balance’ was more than refreshing. The hope is that the young tech guns are provided with the environment to nurture their thought process and allowed space for ethical deliberation, so that the future of AI driven India is more inclusive and sustainable.

It is much needed that technical education integrates ethics more seamlessly in the educational curriculum( rather than an appendix subject) and work process. Also, tech professionals must become more cognizant of the larger social impact of their role from an ethical perspective, even while executing their modular-specialized jobs.

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I am reminded of a quote from Prof. Shajahan from my master’s classroom-” The aim should be to socialize digitization, rather than digitize the socialization”.

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?#AI #ethics #responsibleAI

#TISSMumbai

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