AI and Ethics: Social Impact and Challenges

AI and Ethics: Societal Impacts and Challenges

Artificial intelligence (AI) has permeated our lives and society deeply, bringing revolutionary changes in various fields. The range of applications of AI is expanding day by day, including self-driving cars, medical diagnosis support, financial transactions, and more recently, generative AI that enables advanced dialogue and creativity.

However, the rapid development of AI also raises new ethical issues. As AI becomes more deeply involved in our lives, discussions of its use and impact from an ethical perspective are becoming increasingly important. In this article, we will take a closer look at the ethical issues surrounding AI, its social impact, and the challenges we need to address.

AI and Ethics: Why Does It Matter Now?

The rapid development of AI and its impact on society

The progress of AI technology, especially machine learning and deep learning, has been remarkable, bringing many benefits to our lives. For example, in the medical field, AI-based image diagnosis helps with early detection of illness, and in the transportation field, autonomous driving technology contributes to reducing accidents. In the business field, AI is automating and streamlining business processes, making our lives more convenient.

However, at the same time, the development of AI may also cause some problems. For example, there are concerns about job losses due to AI, discrimination and unfairness due to AI decisions, privacy violations, and AI exceeding human capabilities. These issues have the potential to have a major impact on our society, so they need to be addressed as soon as possible.

The Need for AI Ethics

AI ethics is an academic field that considers the development, use, and impact of AI on society from an ethical perspective. AI ethics aims to predict the impact of AI on society, evaluate potential risks, and establish principles and guidelines for dealing with ethical issues.

AI ethics is an important issue not only for AI technology developers and researchers, but also for companies, governments, and society as a whole. By deepening the discussion on AI ethics, we can use AI more safely and fairly and build a society in which we can enjoy the maximum benefits that AI brings.

Key challenges in AI ethics

There are many issues surrounding AI ethics. Here we will take a closer look at five particularly important issues.

Bias and discrimination

AI can reflect biases contained in the training data. For example, if past data is biased, AI may make discriminatory decisions against certain groups.

Sources of bias in AI

Bias in AI arises from three main factors:

1. Data bias: If the data that an AI is trained on contains bias against certain groups, the AI may learn that bias and make discriminatory decisions.
2. Algorithm design: AI algorithms themselves may have design issues that favour or disadvantage certain groups.
3. Human bias: The humans who develop and use AI may have their own biases that can influence the decisions the AI makes.

The problem with bias

Bias in AI can cause a variety of problems.

• Discrimination: AI may make discriminatory decisions based on certain attributes, such as race, gender, age, sexual orientation, etc. For example, in hiring practices, it would be a serious problem if AI were to make decisions that disadvantage certain genders or races.
• Unfairness: AI may produce unfair outcomes for certain groups. For example, if AI were to offer unfavorable terms to people living in certain areas when applying for a loan, that would be an unfair outcome.
• Decreasing trust: When bias in AI becomes apparent, it can lead to a decline in trust in the AI, which could hinder its adoption and use.

Countering bias

The following measures can be considered to mitigate AI bias:

1. Use diverse data sets: Ensuring that AI training data includes a wide range of people and situations can help reduce bias.
2. Assessing the fairness of algorithms: When developing AI algorithms, metrics must be introduced to assess their fairness and they must be carefully designed to avoid bias.
3. Human oversight and intervention: Constant human oversight of AI decisions and intervention when necessary can help prevent problems due to bias.

Privacy and Security

In order to perform its functions, AI may collect and use large amounts of personal information. However, if personal information is handled improperly, it could lead to serious problems such as privacy violations and information leaks.

Collection and Use of Personal Information

AI collects personal information in various ways, including facial recognition, voice recognition, behavioral history analysis, etc. This information is used as learning data for AI, and is utilized for personalizing services and targeting advertisements.

While the collection and use of personal information contributes to improving the performance of AI and the convenience of services, it also entails the risk of violating privacy. For example, if personal information collected by AI is provided to a third party without the individual’s consent or is used by malicious attackers, serious damage could occur.

The risk of AI violating privacy

The risks of AI infringing on privacy include:

• Inappropriate collection of personal information: AI may collect more personal information than necessary or collect personal information without making clear the purpose for which it is collected.
• Inappropriate use of personal information: AI may use collected personal information without the individual’s consent or for purposes other than those for which it was collected.
• Leakage of personal information: Personal information may be leaked if an AI system is subject to cyber attacks or if system vulnerabilities are exploited.
• AI-based surveillance: Surveillance systems that use AI, such as facial recognition technology and behavioral history analysis, have the potential to infringe on individual privacy.

Measures to protect your privacy

The following measures are important to prevent privacy violations caused by AI:

1. Compliance with the Personal Information Protection Act: It is necessary to comply with laws and regulations such as the Personal Information Protection Act and to clarify the rules regarding the collection and use of personal information.
2. Clearly stating the privacy policy: Companies must publish and disclose to users a privacy policy that clearly states the purpose of collecting and using personal information, how it will be used, and whether it will be provided to third parties.
3. Thorough security measures: It is necessary to implement thorough security measures for AI systems to prevent the leakage of personal information.
4. Privacy by Design: Privacy protection must be considered from the design stage of AI systems to minimize the impact on personal information.
5. Transparency and accountability: Users need to be informed of how AI collects and uses their personal information, and the rationale for the AI’s decisions need to be made clear.

Accountability and Transparency

AI decisions are based on complex algorithms and can be difficult for humans to understand. This “black box problem” raises questions about the trustworthiness and accountability of AI.

The AI black box problem

AI, especially deep learning models, learn complex patterns from large amounts of data, so their decision-making process can be difficult for humans to understand. For example, if an AI determines that a person has been rejected for a loan application, it may not be able to specifically explain why.

The black box problem could lead to distrust in the use of AI and hinder the introduction and utilization of AI.

AI Accountability

As the impact of AI on society grows, there is a growing demand for accountability for AI. Developers and users have a responsibility to explain the reasons for decisions made by AI. AI accountability is particularly important in areas that affect human lives and livelihoods, such as medical diagnosis and personnel evaluation.

The Importance of Explainable AI (XAI)

To solve the black box problem, research and development is being conducted on explainable AI (XAI). XAI is a technology that explains the reasons for AI decisions in a way that humans can understand, and by increasing the transparency of AI, it contributes to improving the reliability of AI.

Impact on jobs and the economy

The introduction of AI has the potential to have a major impact on the job market and the economy.

The impact of AI on employment

Advances in AI technology could lead to the automation of jobs that have traditionally been performed by humans, resulting in job losses. Simple and routine tasks are considered to be at particular risk of being replaced by AI. Examples include factory assembly work, data entry, and call center work.

On the other hand, it is possible that new jobs will emerge that will allow people to master AI, as well as jobs that require creativity and communication skills that cannot be replaced by AI. New AI-related jobs, such as AI engineers, data scientists, and AI ethics consultants, are attracting attention.

How AI will change the economy

AI has the potential to contribute to economic growth by improving productivity and creating new services. For example, automation of business processes using AI can lead to cost reductions and increased efficiency for companies, potentially creating new business opportunities.

However, it has also been pointed out that the introduction of AI could widen economic disparities. While companies with AI technology and people who can use AI effectively will gain more wealth, companies and people who do not have AI technology could lose their competitiveness and find themselves at an economic disadvantage.

New ways of working and the need for education

The introduction of AI has the potential to significantly change the way we work. By having AI take over repetitive and routine tasks, humans may be able to focus on more creative work and work that involves building relationships.

However, in order to adapt to the age of AI, it is necessary to acquire new skills. It is important to not only improve AI literacy, but also acquire skills that cannot be replaced by AI, such as creativity, problem-solving ability, and communication skills.

The education system also needs to adapt to the age of AI. Providing opportunities to learn knowledge and skills related to AI and cultivating human resources who can use AI effectively will be essential in the future society.

Autonomous Weapons and Security

An autonomous weapon is a weapon system that can select and attack targets without human intervention. With the development of AI technology, the realization of autonomous weapons is becoming a reality, and there is active discussion in the international community about the merits and demerits of such weapons.

Definition of Autonomous Weapons and Issues

Autonomous weapons, which carry out attacks without human input, could cause serious humanitarian problems, such as accidental bombings and harm to civilians. There are also concerns that autonomous weapons could be used by terrorists or criminals.

Furthermore, if the race to develop autonomous weapons intensifies, it could accelerate an international arms race and threaten global security.

The need for international regulation

Many believe that international regulations are necessary regarding the development and use of autonomous weapons. Since 2017, the United Nations has been holding discussions toward establishing legally binding regulations on autonomous weapons, but no concrete agreement has been reached due to differences of opinion among countries.

The regulation of autonomous weapons requires consideration from various perspectives, including not only technical issues but also ethical, legal, and political issues. There is a need for the international community to cooperate and quickly establish rules regarding the development and use of autonomous weapons.

AI Ethics Initiative

To address ethical issues surrounding AI, various actors, including companies, governments, and civil society, are working to address these issues. Here, we will explain each of these efforts.

Corporate Initiatives

Companies that develop and provide AI are required to fulfill their responsibilities regarding AI ethics. Specifically, the following initiatives are being implemented:

• Formulation of AI ethical guidelines: Guidelines that set out ethical principles for the development and use of AI are being formulated and are being used for employee education and the development of internal systems. For example, Google has published “AI Principles,” declaring that it will prioritize social benefits in the development and use of AI.
• Establishment of an Ethics Committee: We have established a committee consisting of experts in AI ethics and external experts to evaluate and monitor the ethical aspects of AI development projects. This strengthens the checking system to ensure that the development and use of AI does not cause ethical issues.
• Implementation of AI ethics education: We conduct training and seminars on AI ethics for employees to raise their awareness of AI ethics. In addition, we provide more advanced ethics education to specialists such as AI engineers and data scientists to develop human resources who can deal with ethical issues.

Government Initiatives

The government is taking various measures to promote the healthy development of AI and minimize the negative impact of AI on society.

• AI legislation: Laws are being developed that set out rules regarding the development and use of AI. For example, the EU announced a “draft AI regulation” in 2021, outlining its policy of introducing regulations based on the risk level of AI systems.
• International discussions on AI ethics: We participate in international discussions on AI ethics and contribute to the creation of international rules. For example, the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) has formulated principles on AI and is encouraging member countries to comply with them.

Civil society initiatives

Civil society is contributing to the healthy development of AI through awareness-raising activities on AI ethics and participation in AI development.

• Raising awareness about AI ethics: Civic groups and NPOs are working to improve the general public’s AI literacy by disseminating information about AI ethics and holding seminars.
• Participation in AI development: There is also an increasing number of citizen-participation AI development projects, with the aim of incorporating diverse perspectives to develop more ethical and fair AI systems.

Generative AI and Ethics

Generative AI is a technology that is particularly susceptible to raising ethical issues due to its advanced capabilities. Here, we explain the ethical issues specific to generative AI and how to address them.

Ethical challenges of generative AI

• Fake News, Deepfakes: Generative AI can create fake news articles, images, and videos that are indistinguishable from the real thing. This fake content can cause social unrest or defame individuals.
• Copyright infringement: Generative AI may learn from existing works and generate content that infringes copyright. As there are no clear rules yet regarding copyright for content generated by generative AI, caution is required.
• Misuse and crime: Generative AI can be used for malicious purposes, including fraud and cyberattacks. For example, there have been reports of crimes in which generative AI has been used to create fake websites and emails to steal personal information or defraud people of their money.

Ethical Guidelines for Generative AI

To address the ethical issues surrounding generative AI, various organizations have developed ethical guidelines. These guidelines outline the ethical principles that developers and users of generative AI should adhere to, and are expected to contribute to the sound development of generative AI.

The main ethical guidelines include:

• Partnership on AI: The non-profit organization Partnership on AI has set forth the principle of “Responsible AI,” which calls for respect for human dignity, privacy, fairness, and other factors in the development and use of AI.
• IEEE Ethically Aligned Design: The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) has proposed a framework called “Ethically Aligned Design,” which encourages ethical considerations to be taken into account from the design stage of AI systems.

These guidelines emphasize the following principles:

• Transparency and accountability: AI developers and users need to be transparent about how their AI works and the basis for its decisions, and be accountable.
• Fairness and non-discrimination: AI must not make discriminatory decisions based on certain attributes, such as race, gender, age, or sexual orientation.
• Human dignity and autonomy: AI should respect human dignity and avoid uses that infringe on human autonomy.

Summary: AI ethics is something we should all be thinking about

AI technology has the potential to enrich our lives and improve society, but at the same time, various ethical issues have come to light, including bias, discrimination, privacy violations, and impacts on employment.

To address these challenges, not only AI developers and users, but also governments, civil society, and each and every one of us must think seriously about AI ethics and act accordingly.

AI ethics is not just a technical issue. It is also a fundamental question of what kind of society we want to build and what kind of future we want. By correctly understanding AI technology and deepening discussions from an ethical perspective, we will be able to build a better society that coexists with AI.

What we can do

• Improving AI literacy: Learn about and deepen your understanding of how AI works and ethical issues.
• Participate in AI development: Participate in citizen-participation AI development projects to incorporate diverse perspectives.
• Participate in discussions on AI ethics: Participate in opinion exchange meetings and events to deepen discussions on AI ethics.
• Selecting AI products and services: Choose AI products and services that have ethical considerations.
• Disseminating information about AI: Disseminate information about AI ethics on social media etc. to raise awareness throughout society.

AI ethics is an issue that we all need to consider. As AI technology evolves, ethical issues will also change. By constantly collecting the latest information and participating in discussions on AI ethics, you can contribute to building a better society that coexists with AI.