Background Reading On Artificial Intelligence
Bostrom, Nick, and Yudkowsky, Eliezer, 2014, “The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence”, in The Cambridge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence, edited by Keith Frankish and William M Ramsey, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 316–334. doi:10.1017/CBO9781139046855.020 (See Week 1 for PDF)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-handbook-of-artificial-intelligence/ethics-of-artificial-intelligence/B46D2A9DF7CF3A9D92601D9A8ADA58A8
Muller, Vincent, 2020, ‘Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics’, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Online
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-ai/
Introna, Lucas, 2017, ‘Phenomenological Approaches to Ethics and Information Technology’ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-it-phenomenology /#EthiInfoTech
*WEEK 1:Ethics, Technology & Artificial Intelligence: the challenge of exceptionalism
*
Question: what, if anything is, are the distinctive ethical challenges posed by AI?
Essential Reading
Floridi, Luciano, 2017, ‘Digital’s Cleaving Power and Its Consequences’, Philosophy & Technology 30, 123-129.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-017-0259-1. (PDF)
Further Reading
Adams, Rachel, 2021, “Can artificial intelligence be decolonized?”, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 46(1–2): 176–197. doi: 10.1080/03080188.2020.1840225. (PDF)
Wallach, Wendell, 2011. “From Robots to Techno Sapiens: Ethics, Law and Public Policy in the Development of Robotics and Neurotechnologies”, Law, Innovation and Technology, 3(2): 185–207. (PDF) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257931470_From_Robots_to_Techno_Sapiens_Ethics_Law_and_Public_Policy_in_the_Development_of_Robotics_and_Neurotechnologies
Watson, David, 2019, ‘The Rhetoric and Reality of Anthropomorphism in Artificial Intelligence’, Minds and Machines 29, 417–440. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-019-09506-6. Open Access at: The Rhetoric and Reality of Anthropomorphism in Artificial Intelligence | Minds and Machines (springer.com)
WEEK 2: Artificial Intelligence and Moral Agency
Question: to what extent, if any, can Artificial Intelligence be considered form of moral agency?
Essential Reading
List, Christian, 2021, ‘Group Agency and Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy & Technology 4, 1-30. DOI: 10.1007/s13347-021-00454-7. (PDF)
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-021-00454-7
Further Reading
Floridi, Luciano. & Sanders, J. W., 2004, “On the Morality of Artificial Agents,” in Minds and Machines, 14(3): 349-379. (PDF)
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:MIND.0000035461.63578.9d
Gerdes, Anne, 2016,
“The Issue of Moral Consideration in Robot Ethics”
ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, 45(3): 274–279. doi:10.1145/2874239.2874278. Available Open Access at: 20_Years_of_ETHICOMP_SI (sdu.dk)
Gunkel, David J., *2018,
“The Other Question: Can and Should Robots Have Rights?”, *
Ethics and Information Technology, 20(2): 87–99. doi:10.1007/s10676-017-9442-4. Available Open Access at: The other question: can and should robots have rights? | Ethics and Information Technology (springer.com) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-017-9442-4
WEEK 3: Artificial Intelligence and the Ethics of Automation
Question: to what extent, if any, does artificial intelligence undermine the ethics of human responsibility?
Essential Reading
Koenigs, Peter, 2022, *‘Artifcial intelligence and responsibility gaps: what is the problem?’ * Ethics and Information Technology 24, 36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-022-09643-0. (PDF)
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-022-09643-0
Further Reading
Müller, Vincent C., 2012, “Autonomous Cognitive Systems in Real-World Environments: Less Control, More Flexibility and Better Interaction”, Cognitive Computation, 4(3): 212–215. doi:10.1007/s12559-012-9129-4. (PDF) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257788395_Autonomous_Cognitive_Systems_in_Real-World_Environments_Less_Control_More_Flexibility_and_Better_Interaction
Santoni de Sio, Filippo and Jeroen van den Hoven, 2018, “Meaningful Human Control over Autonomous Systems: A Philosophical Account”, Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 5: 15. doi:10.3389/frobt.2018.00015. Open Access at: Meaningful Human Control over Autonomous Systems: A Philosophical Account (tudelft.nl)
Sharkey, Amanda, 2019, “Autonomous Weapons Systems, Killer Robots and Human Dignity”, Ethics and Information Technology, 21(2): 75–87. doi:10.1007/s10676-018-9494-0. Open Access at: Autonomous weapons systems, killer robots and human dignity | Ethics and Information Technology (springer.com)
WEEK 4: AI and the Ethics of Surveillance, Manipulation and Control
Question: to what extent, if any, does artificial intelligence challenge human freedom?
Essential Reading
Susser, Daniel, Beate Roessler, and Helen Nissenbaum, 2019, “Technology, Autonomy, and Manipulation”, Internet Policy Review, 8(2) DOI: 10.14763/2019.2.1410. (PDF)
Further Reading
Thaler, Richard H and Sunstein, Cass, 2008, Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness, New York: Penguin. Available from Birkbeck library: https://go.oreilly.com/Birkbeck/library/view/-/9781469089393/?ar
Woolley, Samuel C. and Philip N. Howard (eds.), 2017, Computational Propaganda: Political Parties, Politicians, and Political Manipulation on Social Media, Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190931407.001.0001. Available from Birkbeck library: http://ezproxy.lib.bbk.ac.uk/login?url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190931407.001.0001
Zuboff, Shoshana, 2015,** ‘Big Other: Surveillance Capitalism and the Prospects of an Information Civilization’**, Journal of Information Technology 30 (2015), 75-89. (PDF)
WEEK 5: Artificial Intelligence and the Apocalypse
Question: to what extent, if any, does artificial intelligence constitute an existential risk for human life as we know it?
Essential Reading
Karina Vold and Daniel R. Harris, 2023, ‘How Does Artificial Intelligence Pose an Existential Risk?’, Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics, Ed. C. Veliz. 2023. (PDF)
Further Reading
Baum, Seth D., Stuart Armstrong, Timoteus Ekenstedt, Olle Häggström, Robin Hanson, Karin Kuhlemann, Matthijs M. Maas, James D. Miller, Markus Salmela, Anders Sandberg, Kaj Sotala, Phil Torres, Alexey Turchin, and Roman V. Yampolskiy, 2019, “Long-Term Trajectories of Human Civilization”, Foresight, 21(1): 53–83. doi:10.1108/FS-04-2018-0037. (PDF)
Bostrom, Nick, MS, “Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence”, Available online: https://philpapers.org/rec/BOSEII
Russell, Stuart, Daniel Dewey, and Max Tegmark, 2015, “Research Priorities for Robust and Beneficial Artificial Intelligence”, AI Magazine, 36(4): 105–114. Available Open Access at: Research Priorities for Robust and Beneficial Artificial Intelligence - Russell - 2015 - AI Magazine - Wiley Online Library
READING WEEK
Lecture 6: Getting ethics into the machine.
How, if at all, can the actions of AI be aligned with human values and goals? E.g. how ought we to programme driverless cars?
READINGS:
Essential: Norbert Paulo. 2023. ‘The Trolley Problem in the Ethics of Autonomous Vehicles’, The Philosophical Quarterly 73/4: 1046-66.
Other: I. Gabriel, V. Ghazavi. 2022. ‘The Challenge of Value Alignment: From Fairer Algorithms to AI Safety’, in C. Veliz (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics, pp.336-55.
F.M. Kamm. 2020. ‘The Use and Abuse of the Trolley Problem: Self-Driving Cars, Medical Treatments, and the Distribution of Harm’ in S. Matthew Liao (ed.) Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, Oxford University Press, pp.79-108.
W. Wallard and S. Vallor. 2020. ‘Moral Machines: From Value Alignment to Embodied Virtue’, in S. Matthew Liao (ed.) Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, Oxford University Press, pp.383-412.
B.W. Smith. 2020. ‘The Ethics of AI in Transport’, in M.D. Dubber, F. Pasquale, S. Das (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of the Ethics of AI, pp.668-83.
Lecture 7: The ethics (and politics) of the employment of AI technology.
What’s the Marxist critique of AI technologies? Should we take this critique seriously?
READINGS
Essential: Federico Cugurullo. 2024. ‘The obscure politics of artificial intelligence: A Marxist socio-technical critique of the AI alignment problem thesis’, AI and Ethics. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43681-024-00476-9
Other: Kate Crawford. 2021. ‘Chapter 2: Labor’, in Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence, Yale University Press, pp.23-51.
T.M. Power and J-G. Ganascia. 2020. ‘The Ethics of the Ethics of AI’ in M.D. Dubber, F. Pasquale, S. Das (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of the Ethics of AI, pp.26-51.
C. Hughes and A. Southern. 2019. ‘The world of work and the crisis of capitalism: Marx and the Fourth Industrial Revolution’, Journal of Classical Sociology 19/1: 59-71.
Lecture 8: The ethics of algorithms.
In what way are data sets employed by AI biased? How ought this problem to be addressed?
READINGS
Essential: Kate Crawford. 2021. ‘Chapter 4: Classification’, in Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence, Yale University Press, pp.123-150.
Other: L. Herzog. 2021 ‘Algorithmic Bias and Access to Opportunities’, in C. Veliz (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics, pp.413-32.
Ntousi et. al. 2020. ‘Bias in data-driven AI systems: an introductory survey’, WIRES. Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery 10/3.
Seth Lazer. 2024. ‘Can Philosophy Help Us Get a Grip on the Consequences of AI’, Aeon. Can philosophy help us get a grip on the consequences of AI? | Aeon Essays
Lecture 9: Social consequences of AI.
Is there anything wrong with having sex with an AI robot?
READING:
Essential: A. Sterri and B.D. Earp. 2021. ‘The Ethics of Sex Robots’, in C. Veliz (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics, pp. [The Ethics of Sex Robots | Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics | Oxford Academic (oup.com)]
Other: A.M. Turing. 1950. ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’, Mind LIX/236: 433-460.
Nyholm, Sven. 2022. ‘The Ethics of Humanoid Sex Robots’ in Lori Watson, Clare Chambers and Brian Earp (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Sex and Sexuality, London: Routledge, pp. 574-585.
Atanasoski, N. and K. Vora. 2019 ‘Epilogue: On Technoliberal Desire, Or Why There is No Such thing as Feminist AI’ in Surrogate Humanity: Race, Robots, and the Politics of Technological Futures, Durham: Duke University Press, pp. 188-96.
Lecture 10: AI threats to privacy, dignity and intellectual property.
What’s wrong with AI-created deep fake images?
READING:
Essential: De Ruiter, Adrienne. 2021. ‘The Distinct Wrong of Deepfakes’, Philosophy and Technology 34: 1311-32. The Distinct Wrong of Deepfakes | Philosophy & Technology (springer.com)
Other:
Daniel Story and Ryan Jenkins. 2023. ‘Deepfake Pornography and the Ethics of Non-Veridical Representations’, Philosophy and Technology 36/3: 1-22.
Regina Rini, R. 2020 ‘Deepfakes and the Epistemic Backstep’, Philosophers’ Imprint 20/24: 1-16.
Rafael Cejudo. 2024 ‘Ethical Problems of the use of Deepfake in the Arts and Culture’, in F. Lara and J. Deckers (eds.) Ethics of AI. Springer, pp. 129-48.
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