Ethics

The field of ethics involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behaviour [Fieser, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy].

Ethical Dilemmas are scenarios where there is no obviously good choice:

Why should you study ethics…

• … as a computer scientist or a software engineer?
  • To communicate with specialists in ethics (e.g., philosophers)
  • To approach ethics from a technical standpoint
• … as an AI engineer?
  • Because AI applications take increasingly sophisticated actions that affect humans
• … as a Collaborative AI engineer?
  • Ethics is inherently a multi-agent concern

Values

Values are a building block of ethical AI, and when we think of values, we think of what is important for us in life.

Schwartz (2012) identifies six features of all values:

A preference means a more positive attitude (leaning) toward one alternative over another (or other) alternative(s). They can be over values, interests, or other arbitrary choices.

Preferences over values vs. preferences over interests:

• An interest is manifested as sustained attention involving cognition of the interest object, accompanying positive affect.
• A value is manifested as affective valuation.
• Both values and interests influence behaviour.
• When judgment in preference is based on liking (i.e., attraction), it is an interest; when the basis is importance (i.e., significance or meaning), the preference is a value.

Value-Sensitive Design (VSD) methods are not standalone but are Intended to be integrated with other methods and processes for technical design and development