Moral Machines: Artificial Intelligence for a Better World

What is the best approach moving forward regarding artificial intelligence (AI) development: Carrying on full speed ahead, pause and think, or is there a third way?

Technological Possibilities and Ethical Thinking

The technological development regarding AI is impressive, providing us with almost endless possibilities. This is perhaps especially the case with machine learning, where machines use mathematical models to find patterns and thus can learn without human intervention. Nevertheless, we need to remember that most, if not all, possibilities related to technology have ethical implications.

Thus, wise and responsible actors make sure that ethical considerations are part of their decision-making process, preferably in the early stages of development. Not after the product or solutions have been completed.

Historical Background of AI and Ethical AI

Artificial intelligence (AI), as a field of research, has a history that at least dates back to Alan Turing (1912-1954). More specifically, the pioneering work he and his team did on the Enigma project during World War II, as well as his article from 1950 where he introduced the term.

The real breakthrough, however, came later with the project on artificial intelligence at Dartmouth College in the 1950s. After that, development has progressed somewhat in fits and starts.

Today, however, we have advanced machine learning models and generative AI solutions that have the possibility to greatly improve people’s lives. Unfortunately, it can also be used for destructive purposes. Thus, we need an ethical approach to AI.   

In fact, from the 1960s, research on ethical AI and AI ethics has been conducted. This includes how to integrate ethical thinking in different ways during the development process of AI-based technology, as well as how to include ethical principles in algorithms and within the technological solutions that are developed.

Thus, a distinction is often made between ethics related to the development of artificial intelligence and how artificial intelligence can operate in an ethical manner. 

Integrating Technological Development and Ethics

Oftentimes, we are captivated by the possibilities provided by new technology. Therefore, we tend to give most of our attention to the technology itself. However, this can lead to the serious flaw of not considering and addressing important ethical concerns until the late, perhaps final, stages of the process. At that point, it could actually be too late to do anything substantial about this.

Especially when we are talking about machine learning, where machines not only get smarter as they learn more and more from all the training data we provide, but where the learning can eventually take place without human intervention, this could really become a serious issue. Thus, an ethical analysis where major potential moral and ethical issues are considered needs to be a crucial component in the early stages of technology development.

Two principles are important to remember: 1) Humans are responsible for developing the technology and deciding how it should work. 2) Ethical thinking and competence are equally important to technological expertise in developing the technology of the future.  

Practical Steps in Building Sustainable and Human-Friendly Solutions

So, how can ethics be more integrated into the technology development process? For sure, raising our ethical awareness about these issues and assessing potential ethical consequences, is probably a good start. Preferably, this should be done at the early stages of development, even when the final outcome is fuzzy and even uncertain.

Furthermore, the ethical analysis will identify potential moral dilemmas and explore how different ethical theories and principles can help us come up with more sustainable, non-harmful, and human-friendly solutions.

Finally, it often takes courage to make ethical decisions, especially when they seem to deviate from what appears to be obvious from a technological or commercial perspective. The blending of ethics and technology would thus be salient for both research regarding AI and commercially oriented technology development.

Research regarding artificial intelligence should certainly be opportunity-oriented, and thus explore how we can solve the major challenges we face today and tomorrow. However, our goal should be to come up with solutions that make the world a better place, and to succeed we also need to identify and address the ethical consequences of the choices we face.

Hopefully, this combination of ethical thinking and technological development will provide a good starting point for helping us navigate an unknown and uncertain future.