Ethics for people who work in tech: How to integrate ethics in your projects

Transcript

1. Ethics for people who work in tech: How to integrate ethics in your projects Marc Steen, PhD senior research scientist at TNO (tno.nl) Big Data Expo, Utrecht, 14 Sept 2022
2. Let’s start with a poll 1. Please raise your hand if you think or feel that ethics is important in data / algorithms /AI 2. Please raise your hand if you think or feel that integrating ethics in your project is easy
3. When you work in development and innovation, you also ‘do ethics’; you want to improve something
4. ‘Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit [every development or innovation project], is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.’
5. Ethics is not a barrier to innovation; it is a steering wheel: to keep your project on the right track, avoid crashes or wrong turns
6. You can organize a process of ethical refection, inquiry, and deliberation: - Identify issues, e.g., ‘what could happen’ - Host dialogues, e.g., with stakeholders - Take decisions, be accountable (experiments)
7. Consequentialism Duty ethics Relational ethics Virtue ethics Rapid Ethical Deliberation; 4-20 people, 1-2 hours; results: ask precise and specific questions
8. Consequentialism can help to focus on improving people’s lives and reducing people’s suffering • evaluate positive and negative outcomes • discuss system boundaries (‘externalities’) • discuss distribution of plusses and minuses • explore undesirable outcomes (‘side effects’)
9. Duty ethics can help to focus on human dignity, human autonomy, and human rights • identify duties and rights that are at stake • balance conflicting duties and rights, for example, e.g., of different stakeholders • assess impacts on people’s fundamental or human rights
10. Relational ethics can help to understand people as relational beings: social and interdependent • appreciate the need to connect to nature and to others (bridge ecological and social divides) • understand how technologies affect inter- actions between, e.g., ‘primary users’ (police officers) and ‘data subjects’ (citizens) • appreciate the role of power (‘privacy is power’)
11. Virtue ethics can help to see projects’ effects on society (zoom-out) and on people’s abilities to cultivate virtues (zoom-in) • focus on living well together (flourish and polis) • clarify which virtues are at stake, or at risk • clarify which virtues you need to cultivate • these can be similar, e.g., for social media: self-control is needed in ‘users’ and in you
12. An iterative and participative process: ‘start somewhere’, ‘make steps’, and ‘learn as we go’
13. We can use methods from Human-Centred Design, Value Sensitive Design or Responsible Innovation Involve citizens, invite stakeholders, promote anticipation, diversity, inclusion, and reflexivity
14. Reflexivity, e.g., about virtues that you need to cultivate; these are your ‘super powers’ Courage, Self-control, Justice, Practical wisdom, Honesty, Humility, Civility, Empathy, Compassion, Care, Curiosity, Creativity, Collaboration, Empowerment, Anticipation, Diversity, Inclusion … anything else?
15. Thanks for your attention! Any questions? Info: marcsteen.nl and ethics for people who work in tech.com Book: routledge.com/Ethics-for- People-Who-Work-in-Tech/Steen /p/book/9780367542436 Discount code: FLA22 for 20% off; or EDM20 (7 Oct-30 Nov)