Towards a Code of Ethics for Artificial Intelligence

This brief introduction sets a context for the subject of the book: the challenges that arise in developing codes of ethics for artificial intelligence (AI). To start with, an overview of some of the concerns about AI and current developments in AI. AI encompasses a wide range of applications, of very varying natures, which means that there will be complex debates about its benefits and risks. Some of the many and varied current initiatives concerned more specifically with AI and ethics are introduced briefly. There are diverse approaches to tackling ethical issues in AI which may complement the development of codes of ethics, and these too are briefly outlined. 1.1 Why Ethics in AI? Why Now? This book is concerned with the question of how to develop codes of ethics in artificial intelligence. But why look at this now? Hardly a day goes by when there is not a prominent media story about the risks and benefits of artificial intelligence. Alongside accounts of the technological promise of AI are warnings about its perils. Even those who herald a glorious future with AI often paint a picture of profound social and individual change. But should we be worried? And if so, what should be we worried about in particular? And precisely how worried should we be? For one obvious feature of AI is its broad nature and manifold applications. There is also some problem even in defining it, for it’s often been observed that a technological capacity is heralded as AI until it’s in place, then, as John McCarthy, the computer scientist who coined the term ‘artificial intelligence’, put it, ‘as soon as it works, no one calls it AI anymore’ (Vardi 2012). The borderline between what counts as AI proper and other forms of technology can be blurred. Some AI systems are so embedded within technology that they are assumed and almost invisible. This also means that it’s hard or impossible in many cases to say which ethical and other value issues are presented by AI per se, and which by other features of technology. AI is already with us; many applications are fast developing and will be with us in the near to medium term. It is a disputed question when other even more advanced forms of AI including superintelligence will be here, if ever. Many © Springer International Publishing AG 2017 P. Boddington, Towards a Code of Ethics for Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence: Foundations, Theory, and Algorithms, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-60648-4_1 1 consider that the emergence of superintelligence is an inevitability; there are the usual disputes about how long it will be before it is with us, as well as disputes about whether we should welcome its arrival, and if so, why. Philosophical and technical disputes converge, in the debates about whether we will ever develop AI which has consciousness and which is sufficiently complex, and in the right ways, to merit our moral concerns and protection. AI may involve robotics of varying complexity; it may involve the manipulation of vast amounts of data; it may involve machine learning. It may involve how we relate to others; it may involve how as individuals we think, remember and reason. It may have implications for the organisation of the labour market; it may involve how we trade; who has access to information; and how. It has implications for the economy, for politics, for culture. It has implications for those who directly use AI, such as those who use a robot butler; it has implications for those more remote, as for example when an algorithm developed by machine learning helps makes public policy decisions, or unemployment attributable to the use of AI means a worker can no longer afford to pay their child’s music teacher. Artificial intelligence may be applied in many very different areas, and in different ways within the same area. In medicine, AI may be involved in computerised diagnosis of individual patients, or in algorithms to analyse vast amounts of data from thousands or millions of patients to understand the nature of disease and health. It may be involved in patient consultations and even therapy sessions with online or robotic responses. Robotic assistance with surgery can involve AI, for complex and delicate operations. It may be involved in remote monitoring of health, in mobile technology that gives patients information about their own conditions. It may be involved in nursing and care, with robotic assistants or companions. Robots are being used to assist people with autism to develop social skills. Robotic pets are being developed to provide companionship and mental stimulation to patients with dementia. Robotic limbs are being developed, as well as devices to enable patients with locked in syndrome and other similar conditions to communicate. Machinery increasingly involves AI. Autopilots include elements of AI, and autonomous vehicles are imminently set for widespread use. The ‘internet of things’ connects household gadgets and other items using AI. Commerce involves AI, from automated trading agents in the stock market, to algorithms which tailor online advertising or sort the prices of airline tickets, both for buyers and for sellers. The use of robotics in manufacturing is long established, and capabilities are increasing. AI is moving into performing work that previously required not just manual skills but intellectual skills, as in legal research and accounting. Teaching also faces inroads from AI. AI may even be used in creative endeavours, such in writing literature; it’s already being used in the composition of music. There will hence be many different and complex debates to be had about the perils and benefits of AI and its applications. How then, should we think about developing any codes of ethics for AI? 2