Ethics in the Age of AI
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LDS Commentary
Generative AI continues to raise serious questions around data privacy violations, distribution of harmful content, copyright, and legal exposure, sensitive information disclosure, amplification of existing bias, data provenance, and workforce roles and morale. While human intelligence currently outweighs AI in the realm of critical and creative thinking and the ability to discern flawed data. However, there are no clear solutions to address the underlying ethical concerns, and decision-makers often neglect to consider the significance of ethical principles before implementing generative AI. These ethical principles include governance, privacy, lawfulness, empathy, reliability, equity, accountability, traceability, and autonomy for Gen AI.
Panelist: Michael Sandel, Professor of Government, Harvard University.
Summary
Sandel believes there are four main worries in contemporary ethical debates about AI technology. First, are robots coming for our jobs? Second, will algorithmic prediction in decision-making – in hiring, lending, and criminal justice, freeze in place the unfairness embedded in past practices? Third, will surveillance capitalism essentially mean that privacy is over? Fourth, will misinformation, deep fakes, and the polarizing effect of social media undermine democracy?
Going a step further, Sandel posed a fundamental question to the audience – will technology change what it means to be human? Using the example of de-aging to make a movie, he asked whether anyone had a problem with the use of AI to do so. The response was almost entirely ‘No problem.’ However, when he asked about bringing a dead actor like Humphrey Bogart back to life in a movie, the audience's response was negative. Why? Lack of consent and agency on the part of the subject, as well as the potential loss of dignity.
In summary, Sandel pointed to the emergence of virtual immortality, in which humans will be able to create a holographic avatar that interacts with family and friends after death, using the same mannerisms as the deceased person. So the deeper question, beyond worries about jobs, fairness, privacy, and democracy, is about whether human authenticity, dignity, and human presence are fundamentally at stake. Are new technologies leading us to confuse virtual community and human connection for the real thing? If they do, then we may lose something precious about what it means to be human.
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