Is 'ethical AI' a fantasy?

null, null, Linda Eggert (University of Oxford), Allan Dafoe, Ritula Shah, Mark Coeckelbergh (University of Vienna)

Abstract:

Public anxiety about recent developments in AI has often focused on ethical issues: bias in data, privacy, the explainability of automated decisions, the effects of algorithmic bubbles on democratic debate, not to mention the harms caused by deep fakes – the list goes on. In response, the emerging field of AI ethics aspires to address these issues, for example by downstream regulation or by building AI products and services which are duly sensitive to ethical imperatives. But is the aspiration to ‘ethical AI’ realistic? Could artificial systems themselves be ethical agents? Are the financial incentives to ignore ethics just too powerful?

The Panel:

Mark Coeckelbergh is a full Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology at the Philosophy of Department of the University of Vienna. He is also ERA Chair at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague and Guest Professor at WASP-HS and University of Uppsala. His expertise focuses on the ethics of artificial intelligence and robotics. He is a member of various entities that support policy building in this area, such as the European Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, the Expert Council Ethics of AI of the Austrian UNESCO Commission, and the the Belgian federal Advisory Committee on Data and AI. He is the author of 18 philosophy books and numerous articles, including AI Ethics and Why AI Undermines Democracy.

 Shannon Vallor is the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) at the University of Edinburgh, where she is also appointed in Philosophy. She is Director of the Centre for Technomoral Futures in EFI, and co-Director of the UKRI’s BRAID (Bridging Responsible AI Divides) programme. She is a standing member of the Stanford AI Hundred Year Study (AI100) and her research explores how AI, robotics, and data science reshape human moral character, habits, and practices. Her work includes advising policymakers and industry on the ethical design and use of AI, and she is a former Visiting Researcher and AI Ethicist at Google. She is the author of Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting (Oxford University Press, 2016) and The AI Mirror: How to Reclaim Our Humanity in an Age of Machine Thinking (Oxford University Press, 2024).

Linda Eggert is an Early Career Research Fellow in the Faculty of Philosophy, at Balliol College, and the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford. She works in moral and political philosophy, and the philosophy of law. Her research focuses on issues in normative and practical ethics and theories of justice; concerning, for example, the ethics of rescue and defensive harming, and the relationship between AI, human rights, and democracy — in particular, regarding the ethics of delegating to AI. Prior to her current post, Linda held fellowships at the McCoy Center for Ethics in Society at Stanford University, the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Linda completed her doctorate at the University of Oxford in 2021.

Allan Dafoe’s mission is to help humanity safely navigate the transition to advanced AI. Allan is Director of Frontier Safety and Governance at Google DeepMind, where he oversees work on dangerous capability evaluations, risk assessment, and mitigation protocols, as well as frontier AI strategy, policy, and governance. Allan is also Founder and Trustee of the Centre for the Governance of AI; Co-Founder and Trustee, Cooperative AI Foundation; former faculty at University of Oxford and Yale.

Ritula Shah (chair) is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster. She is the presenter of ‘Calm Classics’ every weekday evening on ClassicFM. Ritula left the BBC in April 2023, after a career spanning almost 35 years. She was the main presenter of the World Tonight, Radio 4’s evening news programme, which has a focus on international affairs and domestic politics. She presented the programme from countries including Brazil, Jordan, India, China, the US, Guantanamo Bay, Finland and Germany. She was also the lead presenter of The Real Story, a weekly discussion programme on the BBC World Service. Ritula chairs events for businesses, universities and think tanks on everything from current affairs to philosophy. She is a trustee of the visual arts organisation INIVA and an ambassador for the British Asian Trust.