Towards Establishing Criteria for the Ethical Analysis of Artificial Intelligence
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Towards Establishing Criteria for the Ethical Analysis of Artificial Intelligence Michele Farisco1,2 · Kathinka Evers1 · Arleen Salles1,3
© The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Ethical reflection on Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a priority. In this article, we propose a methodological model for a comprehensive ethical analysis of some uses of AI, notably as a replacement of human actors in specific activities. We emphasize the need for conceptual clarification of relevant key terms (e.g., intelligence) in order to undertake such reflection. Against that background, we distinguish two levels of ethical analysis, one practical and one theoretical. Focusing on the state of AI at present, we suggest that regardless of the presence of intelligence, the lack of morally relevant features calls for caution when considering the role of AI in some specific human activities. Keywords Ethics of artificial intelligence · Ethics of robotics · Philosophy of artificial intelligence · Philosophy of intelligence · Biological intelligence
Introduction AI is a rapidly expanding area of development and application. Aware that there is no general agreement on how to understand it,1 we follow here the definition provided by a recent Communication by the European Commission, according to 1 Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig suggest that historically two categories of AI definitions have been elaborated: human-centric and rationalist. In the first case AI is defined in comparison with humans, i.e. acting like a human or thinking like a human; in the second case AI is defined as characterized by an essential rationality or goal-directed behavior, i.e. thinking rationally or acting rationally. See (Russell and Norvig 2010).
* Michele Farisco [email protected] 1
Centre for Research Ethics and Bioethics, Uppsala University, Box 564, 751 22 Uppsala, Sweden
2
Science and Society Unit, Biogem, Biology and Molecular Genetics Institute, Via Camporeale, Ariano Irpino, AV, Italy
3
Programa de Neuroetica, Centro de Investigaciones Filosoficas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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which AI “refers to systems that display intelligent behavior by analyzing their environment and taking actions—with some degree of autonomy—to achieve specific goals” (European-Commission 2018). Because this definition is formal and general enough to cover most common understandings of the field, it constitutes a useful starting point. Indeed, it is on the basis of this understanding that the High-Level Experts Group of the European Commission developed a more granular definition of AI as “systems designed by humans that, given a complex goal, act in the physical or digital world by perceiving their environment, interpreting the collected structured or unstructured data, reasoning on the knowledge derived from this data and deciding the best action(s) to take (according to pre-defined parameters) to achieve the given goal. AI systems can also be designed to learn to adapt their behavior by analyzing how the environment is
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