Artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay and it is a major part of all business, not just the tech industry. What are the ethical implications that come with artificial intelligence?
According to the Harvard Gazette’s interview of Professor Michael Sandel:
AI presents three major areas of ethical concern for society: privacy and surveillance, bias and discrimination, and perhaps the deepest, most difficult philosophical question of the era, the role of human judgment, said Sandel, who teaches a course in the moral, social, and political implications of new technologies….Companies have to think seriously about the ethical dimensions of what they’re doing and we, as democratic citizens, have to educate ourselves about tech and its social and ethical implications — not only to decide what the regulations should be, but also to decide what role we want big tech and social media to play in our lives.
AI has become essential in many industries like health care, banking, manufacturing, retail, and transportation. This has a great societal impact on various stakeholders like employees and consumers. AI may be capable of doing amazing things, but companies must factor ethics into the application of these emerging technologies.
According to The Harvard Gazette (2020), AI will continue to rise resulting in $110 billion annually by 2024 per the technology research firm IDC. Retail and banking industries spent the most. It is predicted that AI will be “the disrupting influence changing entire industries over the next decade.”
One of these impacted industries is transportation as demonstrated by the rise of the autonomous vehicle (AV), or self-driving car. According to Digitalist Magazine, the market is set to reach $42 billion by 2021, which transforms the way we commute, transport goods, and affects our relationship with cars. These changes create many ethical implications about the regulation and safety of the car industry. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that 1.35 million people die annually in traffic accidents around the globe (Digitalist, 2019). The potential benefits of self-driving vehicles include increased efficiency in transporting people and goods, but also the elimination of 90% of traffic accidents. However, the key challenge to AVs focuses on how they value human life in making “moral” judgments in split-second decision-making.
The world’s largest tech companies including Tesla, Google, and Uber have self-driving car programs. These companies argue that this technology increases safety, reduces traffic congestion, and improves fuel economy. However, with these benefits, come legal risks and ethical issues, having unintended consequences for public safety. (Nature, 2018). As we have learned, ethics can vary by person and by culture, which leads to the question of how to design “machine ethics” with a universal set of ethical rules to make moral judgments and decisions when there are no universal rules.
Self-driving vehicles are already on the roads and being tested in several U.S. cities. Unfortunately, there have already been fatalities including an autonomous car operated by Uber, which was being tested with a human emergency driver. The Uber test vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian who stepped into the road while walking a bike outside of a crosswalk. Neither the Uber test vehicle nor the human driver noticed until it was too late. An investigation proceeded, but the testing program has resumed. There are several ethical questions that arise when it comes to self-driving cars.
READINGS:
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/10/ethical-concerns-mount-as-ai-takes-bigger-decision-making-role/ (Harvard Gazette, October 26, 2020)
https://d2l.pima.edu/content/enforced/580497-10666.202310/Supplemental%20Content/Ethical%20Concerns%20of%20AI.pdf (Forbes, December 29, 2019)
https://news.sap.com/africa/2019/03/the-rise-of-autonomous-vehicles-and-why-ethics-matter/ (Digitalist, April 2, 2019)
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07135-0 Nature, 2018)
PODCAST: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/driverless-cars-pros-and-cons/ Wharton Business (23:24 min.)
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPo6bby-Fcg
QUESTIONS:
1. Corporate governance broadly refers to the mechanisms, relations, and processes by which society and businesses are controlled and directed. It involves balancing the many interests of various stakeholders. List the critical stakeholders with the most interest in the outcome of autonomous vehicles.
2. Describe the issues concerning “machine ethics” and if autonomous vehicles can be programmed to value human life in making “moral” judgments and decision-making in traffic conditions.
3. Describe the legal concerns and challenges of regulating autonomous vehicles. In a paragraph, explain who is liable for harm and accidents caused by these vehicles and how to reduce the risk and harm to the public.
4. Describe whether or not you believe that fully autonomous vehicles will ever be safe and what the industry can do to ensure safety and promote a better public relations image.
5. What are the ethical implications of the autonomous vehicle industry for human drivers in service sector jobs like Uber, Lyft, and cab drivers?
Format: Please submit a 600-word minimum Word document that is double-spaced, with 12 pt. Times New Roman or Arial font, and 1-inch margins on all sides. Include a Title page and a Reference page. Title and reference pages DO NOT count towards the length of the paper. Use paragraphs to organize your writing. To monitor the word count, use the “Word Count” tool in the “Review Tab” of MSWord.