The implications of living in a digital world — Artificial intelligence and ethics
Each year we see leaps and bounds in the development of technology and are now in a world where science fiction is our reality. This evolution in technology is being supported and funded by some of the most powerful companies and nations in the world, making it a constant part of our daily lives. These technologies are so integrated into our lives that they are now affecting the socieities we live in and the way we view the world. One of the main and most controversial developments in digital technology is artificial intelligence (AI). With the rising prevelance of AI we have to contend with the implications and ethitcs of aritficial intelligence upon our world.
The increasing influence of artificial intelligence on the human condition both with and without our knowledge comes with myriad questions regarding ethics and connectivity. In this digital world we are connected to each other more than ever aided by the development of 5G but paradoxically we are also disconnected from the world around us. Instead of solely relying on our own experiences we are also able to live vicariously through others via social media and are by proxy exposed to lots of different experiences we otherwise would not encounter in our own individual lives, from the comfort of our own homes.
These seemingly endless digital connections are actually taking away from our face to face human interactions and it begs the question are we growing more distanced from each other due to a lack of human interaction as everything is beoming increasingly digitised? How many times have you been trying to organise something in your life and been met with an automated voice with pre-recorded answers to pre-set questions on the other end of the phone?
This can obviously be helpful by streamlining services and increasing the volume of calls which can be processed, but quantity is not equal to quality and as a result people and problems can slip through the cracks. There are limitations due to the often binary model of these pre-recorded answers as there is a finite amount of programmable functions leaving no room for spontaneity and improvisation which is arguably the key to innovation.
The fear of replacement of people by AI is not unfounded, across all sectors of work from customer services, healthcare and the creative industries. This raises many ethical issues. People are being faced with job insecurity, unemployment and even poverty. Creative jobs are particularly at risk due to the use of generative AI. Even as I write this blog post my laptop is predicting my next words through the use of AI. By increasing the importance of generative AI we are devaluing the arts as an industry as money is being funneled into STEM and benefiting those who program the AI which creates the art and not people who are artists. This feeds directly into issues with copyright and intellectual property laws, of who really owns these AI generated works and of correctly referencing and attributing these works. This doesn’t only affect the creative sector but the academic world also, if something is generated by AI then is it subject to the same rules regarding plagiarism as work by a human? Questions also arise as to the definition of art and artists with the rise of Non Fungible Tokens, NFTs, and whether there is still a place for artists in this increasingly virtual world.
The increasing use of AI in our lives creates questions regarding our physical and cyber safety and the safety AI can create for us. With AI being used to care for vulnerable people, in replacing nannies, carers and medical assistants we are putting our safety in the hands of the creators of the AI programs. This limits human error but also limits human creativity. Morality also comes into question as to whether we can rely on AI the same way we can one another especially in the medical field. Where people can adapt to a situation involving moral decisions AI is limited by its adaptability and ability or lack thereof to think outside of the box under unforeseen circumstances due to the limitations of programmable functions and is also subject to programmable human bias.
Our understanding of ethics is also part of the development in AI in transport, especially driver less cars. Who is the driver of a driver less car, and by extension who is at fault if a collision happens, the owner of the vehicle, the programmer, the supplier or the manufacturer? Does this lack of accountability and ability to outsource responsibility absolve people of blame and allow them to take a backseat in their lives and interact with the world passively?
The increasing surveillance adds to both our safety but detracts from our privacy and we are putting ourselves in a vulnerable position as we are exposing ourselves to the threat of cyber attack from all over the world. In an increasingly digital world with more aspects of our lives being digitised, data privacy and cyber security can also be compromised by hacking through the use of AI generated code, which streamlines the coding process and allows programmers to increase their productivity.
The validity of the world and the way we interpret it is also at risk from AI as history and facts can be misrepresented and fabricated through generative AI. This generative AI is becoming so advanced and sophisticated it’s becoming harder and harder to distinguish between real life and AI that we don’t know what is empirical, further blurring the lines between fact and fiction. As a result we are both less able to discern and less discerning, we take it all as real and this bleeds into censorship and influence. This can be dangerous when false narratives are filtered into our news outlets as it is easy to both misreport and misrepresent media. This can be especially unethical when targeting vulnerable and naive people such as those who are young and impressionable especially when widely circulated through social media.
Reflection
I chose to study the digital society course because I believe that it is a more relevant topic than ever. With the way society has increasingly becoming more digital I think it’s important to understand this new world and the implications of it.
I have always had an interest in the online world and studying a psychology degree, I especially enjoyed learning about the ethical considerations of digital technologies. It wasn’t something I really thought about before, but it has definitely changed the way I view how online tools are used and how I think they should continue to be used in the future. With a lot of the recent advancements in AI, you often see things on social media a think ‘wow, that’s really cool’ but I don’t think there is enough exposure on the actual implications of AI.
The format of this course was something that I had not experienced before. I liked the way that it enabled me to work through the content in my own time. This really complemented my learning style as I like to be able to do work in short bursts.
