Identifying and Analysing Ethical Issues 7COM2001 Lecture

1 Identifying and analysing ethical issues 7COM2001 Responsible Technology Aims for this session 2 1. A more formal starting point for something being wrong 2. Emphasise that we are considering right and wrong and doing so systema...

1 Identifying and analysing ethical issues 7COM2001 Responsible Technology Aims for this session 2 1. A more formal starting point for something being wrong 2. Emphasise that we are considering right and wrong and doing so systematically 3. Introduce theoretical bases for our ethical analysis work 4. Consider ethical issues as a risk Why is ethics important to us? 3 It is how we decide if what we are doing (as an individual, member of a larger group) is good or bad As Computer Scientists and technologists, we have a substantial (even unique) impact on society, so we also have a special responsibility to consider the impact of what we are building Ethics 4 Ethics refer to the moral principles which guide our behaviour and activities We follow ethical principles voluntarily, that is we have agency in the decisions we make  Compare behaving legally- we are compelled to do so  Compare a reflex response like putting yourself in danger to rescue someone who has fallen in a river Ethics can be personal or at larger scale- organisational, governmental  Personal ethics can conflict with corporate ethics and governmental ethics Systems of ethics 5 Ethical theories define frameworks for making ethical decisions Some ethical theories specify only what you should do, while others also specify why you should do it We consider two broad approaches 1. Deontology (our duties) 2. Consequentialism (the consequences of our actions) Consequentialism 6 The moral worth of an action is determined only by its consequences  For example: releasing a software updates that will enhance the functionality of 80% of users' phones, but prevent the remaining 20% from receiving updates due to hardware limitations Utilitarianism is a prominent example of consequentialism Deontology 7 The moral worth of an action is determined only by whether it obeys prevailing laws and culture  E.g. a doctor will not euthanize a patient even at the risk of spreading disease Deontological theories differentiate between action (causation) and inaction – as do laws  (As an engineer) there is no law requiring you to whistle-blow regarding a company’s actions: you may remain inactive There is also a differentiation between intention and action  Did you intend for your action to have this outcome? Social contract theory is an example of deontological ethics- we obey the rules as long as everyone else obeys the rules (or is punished for transgressions). Ethical dilemmas – trolley problem 8 Consequentialist or deontological? What would you do? Poll. Philippa Foot's birthday was on 2nd October! We consider both… 10 When faced with an ethical dilemma, we process it both in terms of consequentialism and deontology (separate processes) Ethical dilemmas – trolley problem 11 Remember, the trolley problem is not real! But it is of public interest for autonomous vehicles (even if this is a very rare situation and there are perhaps more pressing issues to address) Ethical dilemmas – trolley problem 12 Remember the point about agency- ethics concerns our voluntary actions. If you, as a human driver, are faced with a trolley problem scenario, you respond automatically, by reflex. The software engineers have time to consider what should be done in this situation. There is a voluntary dimension to what they decide to do with the technology and the decisions are ethical (as well as potentially legal)  13 Our own ethical dilemma: Should we release veg-enough? M OST O F U S SA I D Y ES , L E T ' S G O ! Is it ethical to launch? 14 This is not a question of do you personally think it is unethical. You need to be able to explain why you think it is unethical Critical analysis based on ethical theory Deontological analysis – who is involved? 15 Who are the actors in this scenario?  Owner  Developers  Designers  Funders  Users  … Deontological analysis - what are our duties? 16 Owner? Developer? Consequences 17 What are the consequences of releasing the application? Good consequences  People may use our application to increase the amount of vegetables they eat  We can make money out of this  We are giving people jobs Bad consequences  Privacy of our users is diminished  Is our advice sound? Unintended consequences 18 Potentially we may limit our users’ access to health insurance  We may create bias – people may be poor in terms of time and money but want to improve their diet (as a result, do not report eating enough vegetables) We may make some people’s relationship with food more difficult (obsessively logging food/ vegetables) We have very little control over where people’s data ends up (they have even less control)  We may not want to use their data maliciously, but we are selling their data to others who may send them guilt or fear-inducing messages about improving their lifestyle in order to sell them a product or service If our focus is not on the welfare of the people using our app, their experience may be poor and put them off other apps that might be much better for them than ours There is no information about how we are sharing recipes for example. How do we manage the potential for identifying people, for abusing or harrassing them via comments, chat and any other mechanisms for communications on the app  19 Consequence Scanning A way of identifying & avoiding Unintended consequences Two approaches we will study 20 Consequence Scanning by doteveryone Ethical OS toolkit by Institute for the Future and Omidyar Network Three questions to answer 21 What are the intended and unintended consequences of this product or feature? What are the positive consequences we want to focus on? What are the consequences we want to mitigate? We are decent people, but … 22 We may create technology that is intended to do something good, but that leads to ethical problems. Good intent is not enough, we need to be aware of ethical risks. How can we mitigate ethical risks to individuals, groups and society (and you and your company)? Ethical OS: Identifying ethical risks 23 Risk Zone 1: Truth, Disinformation, and Propaganda Risk Zone 2: Addiction & the Dopamine Economy Risk Zone 3: Economic & Asset Inequalities Risk Zone 4: Machine Ethics & Algorithmic Biases Risk Zone 5: Surveillance State Risk Zone 6: Data Control & Monetization Risk Zone 7: Implicit Trust & User Understanding Risk Zone 8: Hateful & Criminal Actors  Example- RZ 5 24 Suggested questions / statements guide us about whether or not this is a risk zone we need to investigate. How might a government or military body utilize this technology to increase its capacity to surveil or otherwise infringe upon the rights of its citizens? What could governments do with the data you’re collecting about users if they were granted access to it, or if they legally required or subpoenaed access to it? Who, besides government or military, might use the tools and data you’re creating to increase surveillance of targeted individuals? Whom would they track, why—and do you want your tech to be used in this way? Are you creating data that could follow users throughout their lifetimes, affect their reputations, and impact their future opportunities? Will the data your tech is generating have long-term consequences for the freedoms and reputation of individuals? Whom would you not want to use your data to surveil and make decisions about individuals, and why not? What can you do to proactively protect this data from being accessible to them? Mitigating ethical risks 25 How can you start to correct or mitigate these risks? Build the checklist into your product design requirements. Post the questions around your office where they can help keep these ethical issues top of mind. Collect resources and seek out experts around your top risk areas to inform your strategy and design. Source ethicalos checklist (Institute for the Future and Omidyar Network. Ethical OS Toolkit (2018).) Embedding Ethical considerations 26 Make ethical considerations part of the development lifecycle We see this more often with accessibility conformance testing, why not ethics? Embedding Ethical considerations 27 The consequence scanning event can make use of the Ethical OS toolkit It is easy to start doing this, takes practice to do it well. You can easily fall into justifying products rather than actually performing a consequence scan or any kind of ethical analysis.  28 Thank you Please post any questions / comments you may have herts.ac.uk