What are Your Standards for the Ethics of AI?

We all think of how we have morals and the ability to decide between what is right and what is wrong. How about if you had to make choices prioritizing who lives and dies when life is in the hands of self-driving cars? Researchers at MIT Media Lab created an experiment called Moral Machine in 2014 about this exact scenario, collecting data to understand the ethical rankings of various cultures in different situations. This study went viral and has had participation from millions spanning over 233 countries.

An analysis of the Moral Machine published in Nature uncovered that cross-cultural ethics contrasted on the “basis of culture, economics, and geographic location”.

An example of the classic scenario: “You see a runaway trolley speeding down the tracks, about to hit and kill a homeless person. You have access to a lever that could switch the trolley to a different track, where a CEO of a Fortune 500 company would meet an untimely demise. Should you pull the lever and end one life to spare the other?”

This question was taken to test 9 different scenarios to comparing: “should a self-driving car prioritize humans over pets, passengers over pedestrians, more lives over fewer, women over men, young over old, fit over sickly, higher social status over lower, law-abiders over law-benders? And finally, should the car swerve (take action) or stay on course (inaction)?”

The study revealed that countries with more individualistic cultures are more likely to spare the young. Countries that have collectivistic cultures like Asian countries such as China or Japan are less likely to spare the young over the old. People from countries with a large social-economic inequality have big gaps between the treatment of individuals with high and low social status.

As you think of the ethics of AI and the expectations of them being designed to have perfect ethical behavior, how will you reflect on yourself and see how that compares to your standards?

Hao, K. (2020, April 02). Should a self-driving car kill the baby or the grandma? Depends on where you’re from. Retrieved January 29, 2021, from https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/10/24/139313/a-global-ethics-study-aims-to-help-ai-solve-the-self-driving-trolley-problem/