3: AI Ethics, explained

Knowing your unique values is essential for leading a fulfilling life. Our internal values can be way-finders — sign-posts that help us to build healthy relationships, undertake projects that align to our purposes, and be the change we want to witness in the world.

But knowing our values is becoming increasingly important in relation to another aspect of our shared human experience — the building and using of powerful technologies, such as artificial intelligence.

In this episode of the RemAIning Human podcast, I’m joined by ethics consultant Jordan Loewen-Colón, who is a professor of AI Ethics and Policy at Queen’s University Smith School of Business and who spends his time guiding individuals and tech companies towards using and building AI that rooted in ethical frameworks and representative of a diversity of value sets.

What I love about Jordan’s work, and about this conversation, is that we focus on understanding which questions to ask — not necessarily pretending that we know the answers. So much of grappling with AI ethics involves understanding what questions should be asked, and how to answer those questions by first knowing our values as individuals, and as a society.

🎙️ Tune into the conversation to:
👉 Understand the basics of “AI Ethics” — including why understanding one’s values are the foundation for understanding what is or isn’t ethical in the development of AI.
👉 Hear examples of the current ethical questions facing an AI-powered society, including: should we replace human workers with AI to increase profit? What are the consequences of removing humans from the screening and hiring process? What are the trade-offs between corporations’ sustainability efforts and the water and energy consumption necessary to power AI systems?
👉 Understand how to define and articulate your values so that you use AI in accordance to your own values — rather than living by your employer’s, or by falling in line with what an AI company values.
👉 Consider how your values might shape who you hold accountable for ensuring AI is built, deployed and used ethically.

And so much more!

In this discussion, Jordan and I speak about a few resources that can help you to define your values and bring an ethical mindset to your work, including:

This first discussion on AI ethics is just the tip of the iceberg — there are so many additional questions to be asked, and pulled apart, as we grapple with AI’s potential to transform our society and ask ourselves in which we ways we want to be changed.

How do you go about defining and refining your own values? How do your values shape your relationship to technologies and to your use of AI?