Ethical Considerations For Artificial Intelligence

When people imagine a future of "robot lawyers," they tend to focus on employment and economic effects -- for example, the implications for the lawyer labor market (e.g., "will the robots take our jobs"). Often overlooked, but no less important, are the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. Last week, at the Global Privacy Summit of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), I attended a session tackling this very subject -- "Machines That Can Learn: Can They Also Be Taught Human Values?" -- with the following panelists: Mark MacCarthy of the SIAA opened by noting the significance of the subject. Machine learning has been described as "the most important general-purpose technology of our era." Taken as a whole, it will improve human civilization, promoting justice and prosperity.