Reflections on Putting AI Ethics into Practice: How Three AI Ethics Approaches Conceptualize Theory and Practice.

IF 2.7 2区 哲学 Q1 ENGINEERING, MULTIDISCIPLINARY
Hannah Bleher, Matthias Braun
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Critics currently argue that applied ethics approaches to artificial intelligence (AI) are too principles-oriented and entail a theory-practice gap. Several applied ethical approaches try to prevent such a gap by conceptually translating ethical theory into practice. In this article, we explore how the currently most prominent approaches of AI ethics translate ethics into practice. Therefore, we examine three approaches to applied AI ethics: the embedded ethics approach, the ethically aligned approach, and the Value Sensitive Design (VSD) approach. We analyze each of these three approaches by asking how they understand and conceptualize theory and practice. We outline the conceptual strengths as well as their shortcomings: an embedded ethics approach is context-oriented but risks being biased by it; ethically aligned approaches are principles-oriented but lack justification theories to deal with trade-offs between competing principles; and the interdisciplinary Value Sensitive Design approach is based on stakeholder values but needs linkage to political, legal, or social governance aspects. Against this background, we develop a meta-framework for applied AI ethics conceptions with three dimensions. Based on critical theory, we suggest these dimensions as starting points to critically reflect on the conceptualization of theory and practice. We claim, first, that the inclusion of the dimension of affects and emotions in the ethical decision-making process stimulates reflections on vulnerabilities, experiences of disregard, and marginalization already within the AI development process. Second, we derive from our analysis that considering the dimension of justifying normative background theories provides both standards and criteria as well as guidance for prioritizing or evaluating competing principles in cases of conflict. Third, we argue that reflecting the governance dimension in ethical decision-making is an important factor to reveal power structures as well as to realize ethical AI and its application because this dimension seeks to combine social, legal, technical, and political concerns. This meta-framework can thus serve as a reflective tool for understanding, mapping, and assessing the theory-practice conceptualizations within AI ethics approaches to address and overcome their blind spots.

Abstract Image

对人工智能伦理实践的思考:三种人工智能伦理方法如何概念化理论与实践。
批评者目前认为,人工智能(AI)的应用伦理学方法过于以原则为导向,并且存在理论与实践的差距。一些应用伦理方法试图通过将伦理理论概念转化为实践来防止这种差距。在本文中,我们探讨了目前最突出的人工智能伦理方法是如何将伦理转化为实践的。因此,我们研究了应用人工智能伦理的三种方法:嵌入式伦理方法、伦理一致方法和价值敏感设计(VSD)方法。我们通过询问他们如何理解和概念化理论和实践来分析这三种方法。我们概述了概念上的优势以及它们的缺点:嵌入式伦理方法是面向情境的,但有被其偏见的风险;伦理一致的方法以原则为导向,但缺乏正当性理论来处理竞争原则之间的权衡;跨学科的价值敏感设计方法基于利益相关者的价值观,但需要与政治、法律或社会治理方面联系起来。在此背景下,我们开发了一个三维应用人工智能伦理概念的元框架。在批判理论的基础上,我们提出这些维度作为对理论和实践概念化进行批判性反思的起点。我们声称,首先,在伦理决策过程中纳入情感和情感维度,激发了对人工智能开发过程中已经存在的脆弱性、忽视经历和边缘化的反思。其次,我们从分析中得出,考虑证明规范性背景理论的维度既提供了标准和标准,也为在冲突情况下优先考虑或评估竞争原则提供了指导。第三,我们认为在伦理决策中反映治理维度是揭示权力结构以及实现伦理人工智能及其应用的重要因素,因为这一维度寻求结合社会、法律、技术和政治问题。因此,这个元框架可以作为一种反思工具,用于理解、映射和评估人工智能伦理方法中的理论-实践概念,以解决和克服其盲点。
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来源期刊
Science and Engineering Ethics
Science and Engineering Ethics 综合性期刊-工程:综合
CiteScore
10.70
自引率
5.40%
发文量
54
审稿时长
>12 weeks
期刊介绍: Science and Engineering Ethics is an international multidisciplinary journal dedicated to exploring ethical issues associated with science and engineering, covering professional education, research and practice as well as the effects of technological innovations and research findings on society. While the focus of this journal is on science and engineering, contributions from a broad range of disciplines, including social sciences and humanities, are welcomed. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, ethics of new and emerging technologies, research ethics, computer ethics, energy ethics, animals and human subjects ethics, ethics education in science and engineering, ethics in design, biomedical ethics, values in technology and innovation. We welcome contributions that deal with these issues from an international perspective, particularly from countries that are underrepresented in these discussions.
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