Can Artificial Intelligence Be Ethical?

Peter Singer raises the questions of ethics, given new developments in AI. Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google's parent company, the owner of AlphaGo, is enthusiastic about what artificial intelligence (AI) means for humanity. Speaking before the match between Lee and AlphaGo, he said that humanity would be the winner, whatever the outcome, because advances in AI will make every human being smarter, more capable, and "just better human beings." Around the same time as AlphaGo's triumph, Microsoft's "chatbot" – software named Taylor that was designed to respond to messages from people aged 18-24 – was having a chastening experience. "Tay" as she called herself, was supposed to be able to learn from the messages she received and gradually improve her ability to conduct engaging conversations.