The organization of behavior: A neuropsychological theory

After virtue, a study in moral theory

In the past five years, private companies, research institutions and public sector organizations have issued principles and guidelines for ethical artificial intelligence (AI). However, despite an apparent agreement that AI should be ‘ethical’, there is debate about both what constitutes ‘ethical AI’ and which ethical requirements, technical standards and best practices are needed for its realization. To investigate whether a global agreement on these questions is emerging, we mapped and analysed the current corpus of principles and guidelines on ethical AI. Our results reveal a global convergence emerging around five ethical principles (transparency, justice and fairness, non-maleficence, responsibility and privacy), with substantive divergence in relation to how these principles are interpreted, why they are deemed important, what issue, domain or actors they pertain to, and how they should be implemented. Our findings highlight the importance of integrating guideline-development efforts with substantive ethical analysis and adequate implementation strategies.

The global landscape of AI ethics guidelines

In the last five years, private companies, research institutions as well as public sector organisations have issued principles and guidelines for ethical AI, yet there is debate about both what constitutes "ethical AI" and which ethical requirements, technical standards and best practices are needed for its realization. To investigate whether a global agreement on these questions is emerging, we mapped and analyzed the current corpus of principles and guidelines on ethical AI. Our results reveal a global convergence emerging around five ethical principles (transparency, justice and fairness, non-maleficence, responsibility and privacy), with substantive divergence in relation to how these principles are interpreted; why they are deemed important; what issue, domain or actors they pertain to; and how they should be implemented. Our findings highlight the importance of integrating guideline-development efforts with substantive ethical analysis and adequate implementation strategies.

Artificial Intelligence: the global landscape of ethics guidelines.

In information societies, operations, decisions and choices previously left to humans are increasingly delegated to algorithms, which may advise, if not decide, about how data should be interpreted and what actions should be taken as a result. More and more often, algorithms mediate social processes, business transactions, governmental decisions, and how we perceive, understand, and interact among ourselves and with the environment. Gaps between the design and operation of algorithms and our understanding of their ethical implications can have severe consequences affecting individuals as well as groups and whole societies. This paper makes three contributions to clarify the ethical importance of algorithmic mediation. It provides a prescriptive map to organise the debate. It reviews the current discussion of ethical aspects of algorithms. And it assesses the available literature in order to identify areas requiring further work to develop the ethics of algorithms.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2053951716679679

The ethics of algorithms: Mapping the debate:

Data Philanthropy-the donation of data from private companies-is becoming increasing more popular, as corporations, like Genentech and Pfizer donate their data, and international organisations, like the UN, start to create the infrastructure to facilitate the sharing of corporate-owned data (Kirkpatrick 2013). However, competing tensions on data control and ownership (Kaisler et al. 2013; Andrejevic 2014; Kostkova et al. 2016), limited technical understanding, and the lack of adequate frameworks for coordination and governance (Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth 2013; Vayena et al. 2015) pose serious obstacles to the attempts to share data among different actors, especially when these include private corporations. This was the case, for example, in 2014 during the Ebola crisis in West Africa, when gaining access to mobile network operators’ data on population movement would have facilitated tracking the spreading of the disease, but proved to be impossible, because of issues concerning commercial interests, users’ privacy, national security, as well as regulatory uncertainty. Understanding how to access these data and how to harness their value for the common good is one of the main challenges of this decade.

/pdf/data-philanthropy-and-individual-rights-2wk96ndynn.pdf

Data Philanthropy and Individual Rights

In July 2017, China’s State Council released the country’s strategy for developing artificial intelligence (AI), entitled ‘New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan’ (新一代人工智能发展规划). This strategy outlined China’s aims to become the world leader in AI by 2030, to monetise AI into a trillion-yuan (ca. 150 billion dollars) industry, and to emerge as the driving force in defining ethical norms and standards for AI. Several reports have analysed specific aspects of China’s AI policies or have assessed the country’s technical capabilities. Instead, in this article, we focus on the socio-political background and policy debates that are shaping China’s AI strategy. In particular, we analyse the main strategic areas in which China is investing in AI and the concurrent ethical debates that are delimiting its use. By focusing on the policy backdrop, we seek to provide a more comprehensive and critical understanding of China’s AI policy by bringing together debates and analyses of a wide array of policy documents.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID3795568_code3765712.pdf?abstractid=3469784&mirid=1

The Chinese Approach to Artificial Intelligence: An Analysis of Policy and Regulation

The fact that Internet companies may record our personal data and track our online behavior for commercial or political purpose has emphasized aspects related to online privacy. This has also led to the development of search engines that promise no tracking and privacy. Search engines also have a major role in spreading low-quality health information such as that of anti-vaccine websites. This study investigates the relationship between search engines' approach to privacy and the scientific quality of the information they return. We analyzed the first 30 webpages returned searching "vaccines autism" in English, Spanish, Italian, and French. The results show that not only "alternative" search engines (Duckduckgo, Ecosia, Qwant, Swisscows, and Mojeek) but also other commercial engines (Bing, Yahoo) often return more anti-vaccine pages (10-53%) than Google.com (0%). Some localized versions of Google, however, returned more anti-vaccine webpages (up to 10%) than Google.com. Health information returned by search engines has an impact on public health and, specifically, in the acceptance of vaccines. The issue of information quality when seeking information for making health-related decisions also impact the ethical aspect represented by the right to an informed consent. Our study suggests that designing a search engine that is privacy savvy and avoids issues with filter bubbles that can result from user-tracking is necessary but insufficient; instead, mechanisms should be developed to test search engines from the perspective of information quality (particularly for health-related webpages) before they can be deemed trustworthy providers of public health information.

/pdf/online-information-of-vaccines-information-quality-not-only-tfs8wgzukb.pdf

Online information of vaccines: information quality, not only privacy, is an ethical responsibility of search engines

“The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com”. Copyright Springer [Full text is not available in the UHRA]

Turing’s Imitation Game: Still an Impossible Challenge for All Machines and Some Judges

When asked what his goal was for the 1815 Waterloo Campaign, the Duke of Wellington answered “Why, to beat the French” (Gray 1984, 9)1 By French he meant Napoleon, and by beating him he meant defeating him for good, so that Napoleon could not pose a threat to European states any longer A conflict was the most effective means to achieve this goal Fast-forward two hundred years, now is China vs USA, the domain is cyberspace where China has been launching attacks against the USA for at least four years to acquire relevant information from USA companies and governmental offices The USA would like to stop the cyber-attacks, the best response in this case is not a conflict but a diplomatic move: the American and Chinese presidents meet and define bilateral agreements to stop state-run cyber-attacks between their two countries This conflict was not won by either of the two actors, but solved by both of them

Mariarosaria Taddeo

Papers

Data Philanthropy and Individual Rights

The Chinese Approach to Artificial Intelligence: An Analysis of Policy and Regulation

Online information of vaccines: information quality, not only privacy, is an ethical responsibility of search engines

Turing’s Imitation Game: Still an Impossible Challenge for All Machines and Some Judges

Cyber Conflicts and Political Power in Information Societies