AI and Ethical Considerations

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been rapidly advancing in recent years, leading to significant ethical concerns in society, industry and higher education. In 2023, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Social and Human Sciences Division published a global recommendation focusing on AI ethics. because of the embedded bias inherent in these tools "[The] risks associated with AI have already begun to compound on top of existing inequalities, resulting in further harm to already marginalized groups." The report outlines four core values that it believes should form the foundations for AI systems designed to work for the betterment of global humanity, society, and the environment.

AI systems should:

• Respect, protect, and promote human rights, fundamental freedoms and human dignity.
• Enable living in peaceful, just and interconnected societies.
• Ensure diversity and inclusiveness.
• Promote flourishing environments and ecosystems.

When we begin to assess the content AI is producing, there are several areas we need to be aware of:

• Accuracy: The text produced may include made-up information that sounds very believable. Can you trust that the information you receive from these AI-based tools is correct? Not without double-checking. Many chatbots such as ChatGPT were designed to produce content that seems realistic, so they will produce inaccurate content with the same level of confidence as accurate content and it's up to you to determine which is which. You'll need to employ a variety of strategies to double-check information before assuming it is correct. You'll learn more about how to do this in the following section.
• Bias: The text produced may include gender, racial, and language biases and biases against particular viewpoints that are hard to detect. While it may be tempting to think of an output from an AI-based tool as neutral when it comes to bias, that is not the case. Since machine learning models are trained on real-world datasets and the world contains bias, it is safe to assume that outputs from these models may replicate or even exacerbate biases we see in the world around us.
• Copyright: Where does the content come from? Because machine learning takes huge inputs of data sets, many models use information from the internet in their training. Artists and authors have criticized AI-based tools for using their work without compensation or credit. If an AI-based image generator can produce work in the style of a certain artist, should that be seen as stealing or paying homage?
• Security & Privacy: What kind of data am I inputting into this tool, and what happens to it? It is safe to assume that—in some way or another—any information you put into an AI-based tool is being used to train the machine learning model further. If you choose to use these tools, you'll want to make sure you're never putting personal or secure information about you or anyone else in your chats. You should also read through any user agreements if you sign up to use a particular service and decide if you are comfortable agreeing to the terms. If one of your class projects requires the use of a particular technology that you do not wish to create an account for, you can ask your instructor for an alternative way to complete the assignment. 

Katie Shilton, Associate Professor in the College of Information Studies and Co-Director of the BS in Social Data Science at the University of Maryland, Co-PI of The Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society (TRAILS), looks more closely at these four areas in this brief video.

• Accuracy: The text produced may include made-up information that sounds very believable. Can you trust that the information you receive from these AI-based tools is correct? Not without double-checking. Many chatbots such as ChatGPT were designed to produce content that seems realistic, so they will produce inaccurate content with the same level of confidence as accurate content and it's up to you to determine which is which. You'll need to employ a variety of strategies to double-check information before assuming it is correct. You'll learn more about how to do this in the following section.
• Bias: The text produced may include gender, racial, and language biases and biases against particular viewpoints that are hard to detect. While it may be tempting to think of an output from an AI-based tool as neutral when it comes to bias, that is not the case. Since machine learning models are trained on real-world datasets and the world contains bias, it is safe to assume that outputs from these models may replicate or even exacerbate biases we see in the world around us.
• Copyright: Where does the content come from? Because machine learning takes huge inputs of data sets, many models use information from the internet in their training. Artists and authors have criticized AI-based tools for using their work without compensation or credit. If an AI-based image generator can produce work in the style of a certain artist, should that be seen as stealing or paying homage?
• Security & Privacy: What kind of data am I inputting into this tool, and what happens to it? It is safe to assume that—in some way or another—any information you put into an AI-based tool is being used to train the machine learning model further. If you choose to use these tools, you'll want to make sure you're never putting personal or secure information about you or anyone else in your chats. You should also read through any user agreements if you sign up to use a particular service and decide if you are comfortable agreeing to the terms. If one of your class projects requires the use of a particular technology that you do not wish to create an account for, you can ask your instructor for an alternative way to complete the assignment. 

Katie Shilton, Associate Professor in the College of Information Studies and Co-Director of the BS in Social Data Science at the University of Maryland, Co-PI of The Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society (TRAILS), looks more closely at these four areas in this brief video.