Should We Leave It to AI to Make Our Hard Choices?

Atay Kozlovski is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Zurich’s Center for Ethics. Alina Constantin / Better Images of AI / Handmade A.I / CC-BY 4.0 In this most recent wave of AI hype, AI systems are being touted not only as optimisers of tasks, but also as better decision-makers in that they can be more just, efficient, and objective than humans. How could one deny this? We all know that our work capacity is limited by our need for sleep, food, entertainment, and the occasional bubble bath. Moreover, people often allow their prejudices, inconsistencies, and emotions to affect their decisions. AI systems seem to offer a natural solution to this all too human condition. In various fields, we already see this transition taking place – algorithms help judges determine the risk of recidivism, help diagnose cancer, identify which job applicant is most suited to fill a vacant position, and determine which advertisement is best suited to an individual’s consumer profile.  But as the use of AI systems has increased, AI ethicists have sounded the alarm over the many ethical questions that need to be addressed if we want to ensure that AI systems do not cause unintended harm. AI developers have responded by calling for regulation and voluntarily committing to take steps to ensure the safety of their products. They also claim that many of these issues, such as ‘hallucinations’, AI value alignment, bias, and discrimination, can be mitigated or even eliminated over time.  But even if this…Should We Leave It to AI to Make Our Hard Choices?