A Framework for Technically- and Morally-Sound AI

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) ethics is by no means a new discipline; thinkers like Asimov and Philip K Dick laid the foundations of this field decades ago. Both then and today, popular dilemmas in AI ethics largely focus on artificial consciousness, artificial general intelligence, autonomous weapons, and some version of the trolley problem. While these thought experiments may prove useful in the future, modern AI applications that are in use today raise ethical dilemmas that require urgent resolution. Public outcry in response to AI in health care, criminal justice, and employment highlight the urgency of the matter. These real and imminent ethical challenges posed by AI form the basis of my dissertation research. In particular, I focus on domains where AI is necessary or inevitable -- such as kidney exchange and medical image classification -- and ethical challenges are unavoidable.