On the efficiency of ethics as a governing tool for artificial intelligence

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2022.1.42584

Keywords:

AI Ethics, Ethical Guidelines, Governance, Bioethics, Regulation

Abstract

The 4th Industrial Revolution is the culmination of the digital age. Nowadays, technologies such as robotics, nanotechnology, genetics, and artificial intelligence promise to transform our world and the way we live. The field of Artificial Intelligence Safety and Ethics are emerging research areas that have been gaining popularity in recent years. Several private, public and non-governmental organizations have published guidelines proposing ethical principles for regulating the use and development of autonomous intelligent systems. Meta-analyses of the AI Ethics research field point to convergence on certain ethical principles that supposedly govern the AI industry. However, little is known about the effectiveness of this form of “Ethics.” In this paper, we would like to conduct a critical analysis of the current state of AI Ethics and suggest that this form of governance based on principled ethical guidelines is not sufficient to norm the AI industry and its developers. We believe that drastic changes are necessary, both in the training processes of professionals in the fields related to the development of software and intelligent systems and in the increased regulation of these professionals and their industry. To this end, we suggest that law should benefit from recent contributions from bioethics, to make the contributions of AI ethics to governance explicit in legal terms.

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Author Biographies

Nicholas Kluge Corrêa, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.

Doutorando em Filosofia no PPGF da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), em Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.

Nythamar Fernandes de Oliveira, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.

Doutor e professor no PPG em Filosofia da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), em Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.

Diogo Fernando Massmann, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.

Mestre em Filosofia e Ciências Cognitivas pela Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), em Marília, SP, Brasil. Doutorando em Filosofia pelo PPGF da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), em Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.

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Published

2022-08-11

How to Cite

Corrêa, N. K., Oliveira, N. F. de, & Massmann, D. F. (2022). On the efficiency of ethics as a governing tool for artificial intelligence. Veritas (Porto Alegre), 67(1), e42584. https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2022.1.42584

Issue

Section

Ethics and Political Philosophy