Are the Machines Taking Over? The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong is Chauncey Stillman Professor of Practical Ethics in the Kenan Institute for Ethics, the Departments of Philosophy and of Psychology and Neuroscience, and the Law School at Duke University. He has received fellowships from the Harvard Program in Ethics and the Professions, the Princeton Center for Human Values, and the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. His most recent books include Neuroscience and Philosophy and Free Will: Philosophers and Neuroscientists in Conversation.
Overview
Computers answer questions and give directions. They decide who gets organs for transplantation and bail in criminal courts. They serve as companions for elderly and disabled, and they guide autonomous cars and weapons of war. Is it dangerous or immoral to leave all of these decisions to machines? Will computers make morally better decisions than humans do? Can artificial intelligence improve on human moral judgments? Will artificial intelligence systems or robots act in destructive ways? We need to face all of these questions in the near future. The solution is to build morality into computers, but how can we do that? We will see. This class will discuss how artificial intelligence is well on its way to running nearly every aspect of our lives as technology embedded in web enabled devices, algorithms, and the programs that power them make a staggering number of everyday decisions for us.