Artificial intelligence has emerged as an enigmatic technological agency, creating a seismic impact on human life worldwide. The wonder of the invention of AI technology can be compared to that of the Egyptian pyramids.
AI is not just a technological tool but an agency. ‘Agency’ refers to the capability of agents to act intelligently either for themselves or at the behest of others. AI, as an agency, has been presenting both indefinite prospects and challenges for humanity. Like human and corporate agencies, AI is not independent of ethical consequences.
A cognitive and computer scientist, John McCarthy, who coined the expression Artificial Intelligence in 1956, had a research problem: whether machines can be intelligent. To be intelligent is to solve problems. A ‘machine’ means a robot, computer, or computer program. Certainly, like human agents, machines can act intelligently. Now, the important question is whether machines can be ethical. By acquiring agentic capabilities, AI is subject to the ethics of fairness, transparency, privacy, and accountability for the common good of humanity.
Fairness is a key ethical value essential for AI governance. Moral and political philosopher John Rawls’s notion of justice as fairness holds that fairness must underpin decision-making in the original position for the common good. AI, as a technological agency, is required to make non-discriminatory, unbiased, unprejudiced, or impartial decisions to advance the common good. AI algorithms thus require impartiality when devising government welfare policies or a company’s human resources policies, by transcending racial, ethnic, or gender discrepancies.
Transparency is an ethical challenge. AI is so complex that it seems like a black box. An ethical concern demands that all AI algorithms be transparent, explaining how their results are derived. Human nature has a desire not only to know about the ends but also the means. A lack of transparency in any AI model may lead to distrust in its results. Transparency is vital for AI technologies for the common good.
Without ethical governance, AI can become a Frankenstein’s monster that human beings may not control
Privacy is a fundamental ethical challenge in the age of AI. The ethics of privacy protects the right to privacy in public life. Different kinds of data, such as personal information, business and bank details, must be protected and secured. Data is the backbone of AI technology.
In the age of AI, the value of gold has been transvalued into data. Data is digital gold. Digital companies are engaged in the excavation of data mining. Smartphones are primarily used for data mining. The internet, business datasets, user and customer feedback, and public offices are used to collect data.
Accountability is a significant ethical challenge in AI technology. AI, as a technological agency, makes decisions that affect human life. In certain circumstances, the question arises: who is accountable for a particular action? For example, if an AI-driven car hits a man and kills him, who will be accountable for taking a human life—the owner of the car, the developer of the algorithm, or the manufacturer of the car? Can the owner of the car escape the legal consequences? Does a software developer deliberately leave a lacuna for an accident? Ethical accountability is essential for AI technologies.
No aspect of human life has remained unaffected by AI technologies. With the surge of AI technologies, the threat of unemployment for human resources is increasing. Machines are replacing human resources swiftly. A new world order with artificial reality is emerging. The world after the advent of AI is changing rapidly.
In AI-driven artificial reality, traditional concepts of life, education, health, trade, warfare, and the arts are disappearing. Like Friedrich Nietzsche’s phrase “transvaluation of values”, AI is transforming physical reality into an artificial reality, in which the digital logic of zeros and ones is replacing the psychology of human emotions. Machines are breaking human-to-human connections. The algorithms of zeros and ones are determining human life.
In the age of AI, humanity is being alienated from human values. AI technologies must not alter humanity. AI should be treated as a means, not as an end. Any agency, whether human, corporate, or artificial intelligence, must be checked with a framework of ethical canons. AI is for the service of humanity and not the other way around.
AI is a boon and a bane. Without ethical governance, AI can become a Frankenstein’s monster that human beings may not control. An ethical framework for AI may be programmed with a utilitarian algorithm that maximises good and minimises harm in the world.
There is, thus, a need to develop ethical frameworks to govern AI technologies at both global and national levels. Consequently, as a matter of policy, Pakistan needs to devise AI ethics grounded in fairness, transparency, privacy, and accountability to advance the country.