Introduction to the Special Issue on Intercultural Digital Ethics

Aggarwal, Nikita

doi:10.1007/s13347-020-00428-1

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 14 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…As seen in the Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics (Véliz, forthcoming), the term has been understood to subsume all forms of ethics described in this article, including Internet ethics, AI ethics, and robot ethics. This broad use of the term is seemingly also found in Aggarwal (2020), who describe how advances in AI changes the ethical implications of digital technologies. Muddying the water further, Aggarwal proceeds to state that Intercultural digital ethics is a subfield of both digital ethics and information ethics.…”

Section: Digital Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 94%

To Each Technology Its Own Ethics: The Problem of Ethical Proliferation

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Danaher

2022

Philos. Technol.

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Ethics plays a key role in the normative analysis of the impacts of technology. We know that computers in general and the processing of data, the use of artificial intelligence, and the combination of computers and/or artificial intelligence with robotics are all associated with ethically relevant implications for individuals, groups, and society. In this article, we argue that while all technologies are ethically relevant, there is no need to create a separate ‘ethics of X’ or ‘X ethics’ for each and every subtype of technology or technological property—e.g. computer ethics, AI ethics, data ethics, information ethics, robot ethics, and machine ethics. Specific technologies might have specific impacts, but we argue that they are often sufficiently covered and understood through already established higher-level domains of ethics. Furthermore, the proliferation of tech ethics is problematic because (a) the conceptual boundaries between the subfields are not well-defined, (b) it leads to a duplication of effort and constant reinventing the wheel, and (c) there is danger that participants overlook or ignore more fundamental ethical insights and truths. The key to avoiding such outcomes lies in a taking the discipline of ethics seriously, and we consequently begin with a brief description of what ethics is, before presenting the main forms of technology related ethics. Through this process, we develop a hierarchy of technology ethics, which can be used by developers and engineers, researchers, or regulators who seek an understanding of the ethical implications of technology. We close by deducing two principles for positioning ethical analysis which will, in combination with the hierarchy, promote the leveraging of existing knowledge and help us to avoid an exaggerated proliferation of tech ethics.

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Section: Digital Ethicsmentioning

confidence: 94%

To Each Technology Its Own Ethics: The Problem of Ethical Proliferation

Sætra

Danaher

2022

Philos. Technol.

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“…On this view, given the planetary stretch of CSS research, its research ethics must confront the way that such legacies have created an unsustainable homogeneity of ethical values in digital ethics. Resistance to the prevailing the monoculture of Westerncentric morality will allow CSS research ethics to become sufficiently responsive to the condition of cultural and ethical pluralism that typifies the modern, interconnected global society both between nation-states and regions and within them (Aggarwal, 2020;franzke et al, 2020;Leslie et al, 2022a). 11…”

Section: Anticipate Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Don’t 'Research Fast and Break Things': On the Ethics of Computational Social Science

Leslie

2022

SSRN Journal

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“…Western privacy-based ICT may also promote behavior that is more individualistically oriented and thus deeply influence African societies as the Western development model in general has done. Ubuntu can thus contribute to intercultural digital ethics (Aggarwal, 2020).…”

Section: Ethics Of Artificial Intelligence and Ubuntumentioning

confidence: 99%

The ethics of artificial intelligence, UNESCO and the African Ubuntu perspective

Norren

2022

JICES

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Purpose This paper aims to demonstrate the relevance of worldviews of the global south to debates of artificial intelligence, enhancing the human rights debate on artificial intelligence (AI) and critically reviewing the paper of UNESCO Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST) that preceded the drafting of the UNESCO guidelines on AI. Different value systems may lead to different choices in programming and application of AI. Programming languages may acerbate existing biases as a people’s worldview is captured in its language. What are the implications for AI when seen from a collective ontology? Ubuntu (I am a person through other persons) starts from collective morals rather than individual ethics. Design/methodology/approach Literature overview on the African philosophy of Ubuntu as applied to artificial intelligence. Application of it to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) debates on establishing guidelines to the ethics of artificial intelligence. Findings Metaphysically, Ubuntu and its conception of social personhood (attained during one’s life) largely rejects transhumanism. When confronted with economic choices, Ubuntu favors sharing above competition and thus an anticapitalist logic of equitable distribution of AI benefits, humaneness and nonexploitation. When confronted with issues of privacy, Ubuntu emphasizes transparency to group members, rather than individual privacy, yet it calls for stronger (group privacy) protection. In democratic terms, it promotes consensus decision-making over representative democracy. Certain applications of AI may be more controversial in Africa than in other parts of the world, like care for the elderly, that deserve the utmost respect and attention, and which builds moral personhood. At the same time, AI may be helpful, as care from the home and community is encouraged from an Ubuntu perspective. The report on AI and ethics of the UNESCO World COMEST formulated principles as input, which are analyzed from the African ontological point of view. COMEST departs from “universal” concepts of individual human rights, sustainability and good governance which are not necessarily fully compatible with relatedness, including future and past generations. Next to rules based approaches, which may hamper diversity, bottom-up approaches are needed with intercultural deep learning algorithms. Research limitations/implications There is very few existing literature on AI and Ubuntu. Therefore, this paper is of an explorative nature. Practical implications The ethics of Ubuntu offers unique vantage points in looking at the organization of society and economics today, which are also relevant for development of AI, especially in its tenet of relatedness rather than individuality (and practical use of AI for individuals), taking responsibility for society as a whole (such as analyzing the benefit of AI for all strata of society), and embodying true inclusiveness. Whether looking at top-down guidelines for the development and implementation of AI or the bottom-up ethical learning process of AI (deep learning), ethics of the Global South can have an important role to play to combat global individualist tendencies and inequity, likely reinforced by AI. This warrants far more research. Social implications Applications of AI in Africa are not contextualized, do not address the most pressing needs of the African continent, lead to cybersecurity issues and also do not incorporate African ethics. UNESCO’s work in this regard is important but expert inputs are largely centered around Western “universal” principles and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and EU precedence. African ethics have, so far, a small role to play in global ethics and philosophy and therefore risk to be overlooked in the discussion on AI and ethics. This is why the consultation process of UNESCO on ethics of AI was of paramount importance. However, it does not automatically lead to consultation of African philosophers or sages, as many are educated in Western (ized) education systems. See further details under practical implications. Originality/value This is a new area of research in which little work has been done so far. This paper offers the opportunity to widen the debate on AI and ethics beyond the conventional discourse, involving multiple worldviews, of which Ubuntu is just one.

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Introduction to the Special Issue on Intercultural Digital Ethics

Cited by 15 publications

References 14 publications

To Each Technology Its Own Ethics: The Problem of Ethical Proliferation

To Each Technology Its Own Ethics: The Problem of Ethical Proliferation

Don’t 'Research Fast and Break Things': On the Ethics of Computational Social Science

The ethics of artificial intelligence, UNESCO and the African Ubuntu perspective

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