Rarely does a day go by now where we are not hearing about some new development in the world of AI (Artificial Intelligence) that involves either a great advance in the technology, or the tragedy of when it goes terribly wrong. Uber, Facebook, Google, and even several automakers have all taken great strides in developing driverless vehicles which have yet to be granted full licensing by the government. Recently one of these driverless vehicles was involved in a fatal crash, and while the determining factors leading to the crash are still not available, it is probable that the crash was a direct result of the failure of the technology. The incident occurred when the car failed to apply brakes after a truck made a sudden left turn in front of it, which resulted in the driver being killed. What is known is that while the technologies for AI are well designed and developed, what is also true is that the robots that perform these tasks also possess the ability to make, or not make, smaller decisions that can have much larger consequences. Many of us love to imagine the day when we can just sit in a car and be driven by automation, the obvious lack of stress, and the ability to do other tasks while being driven is clearly a great feature. But what happens when the technology fails, can we quickly and automatically retrieve control, and avoid disaster? And when we take on such technology, who is ethically responsible for the outcomes?
We all understand these new technologies are changing society, and that change is a rapid one. From simple forms of automation to more complex ones, the convenience of all this is very appealing. However, all of us who are involved in technology development also have a great responsibility to create programming and robotics that will be ethically centered, and this is an area of discussion that along with the technology itself is gaining momentum. My opinion is that the ethical development of AI should be running concurrently along with the development of the technology itself. We cannot have a machine programmed to do a task without having that same machine be programmed to make a decision that will “do the right thing” in any given situation. What if you’ve fallen asleep in your self driving car and suddenly a situation arises that requires a quick decision that could mean life or death? That technology should be designed to be responsive to this kind of scenario, and if it is not, we should be well aware of it before signing up for it. Knowing that ethical values will play a role in AI technology could also mean a certain degree of variation with those ethics. Not all societies have the same ethical values, or moral opinions and this could add yet another layer to the problem. I could be in India in a self-driving car as an American and suddenly find myself swerving to avoid a cow in the road, only to be slammed into a concrete wall, is but one example. As AI continues to hit mainstream life I will be closely observing just how these programs are being written, and what it could potentially mean for me on a personal level into the future.
3 Comments
Sean O'Fallon
5/9/2017 10:23:59 am
This is a difficult subject to take a stance on, but I think the only morally right thing to do is to save the most people possible, even if that does not include the driver. It's difficult to make that kind of decision knowing that I might be the one in the car that doesn't survive, but if the technology is good enough, these decisions will not have to be made often.
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Shaikh Sultani
5/18/2017 11:11:05 pm
This is such a hard topic to get right. I never saw that point of saving a cows life in India only to kill you when in a autonomous vehicle. I wonder how that would play with the nation or just with international relations after hearing of an American losing his life in India all for a cow. Its funny how each country would have to have its own set of ethics to program in the cars. Not every country is the same.
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Cammron Keehley
5/23/2017 08:55:03 pm
Hey Luigi,
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