What AI ethics classes are available and should they be taught universally?

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

Everyone in the field of AI is aware that some of the objectives of AI could pose risks. A few of the risks exceed just car accidents as automated vehicles are beta tested or the replacement of cubicle jobs by processes running in data centers. Various stories, such as Frankenstein, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Terminator, and Transcendence have made readers and movie watchers aware of some of the sequences of technological events that could lead to risks of significant magnitude and permanence.

From a risk management point of view, should ethics classes be taught universally? Should legislative steps be taken to require ethical information to accompany all technical presentations of AI approaches, designs, and implementations? Should universities require ethics classes for all high powered technologies such as AI?

Are there classes in AI ethics taught in high schools and universities yet?

If so, where? If not, why not?

One Possible Syllabus

In response to the query in the comment, here is one possible AI Ethics course syllabus. University deans could decide whether it should be an academic requirement for 2nd year students enrolled in their school.

• Brief history of ethics in economics, law, science, and geopolitics
• Triumphs in ethics applied to technology in the past
• Ways current society is benefiting from past ethical integrity
• Past negative effects resulting from ethical negligence
• Team project: A corporate AI policy per board of directors request
• Distinguishing plausible futures from artifacts of sci fi creativity
• Ways of evaluating outcomes
• Relationship between creators of a system and the system created
• Developing assessments of cost, loss, value, and benefit functions
• Essay assignment: Does humanity have a manifest destiny?
• Dealing with predictive uncertainty in technological ethics
• Legislative and judicial considerations
• Considering career options in an ethical context
• Final exam and team project due