Forging A New Ethical Relationship With Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data are transforming global society, and questions of how to harness their potential while avoiding their risks are among the most pressing issues confronting an increasingly connected world. "The transformational possibilities of intelligent technology are unprecedented," said Dr. Peter Hershock, director of the Humane AI Initiative at the East-West Center in Hawai'i, during a recent online discussion panel on Humane Artificial Intelligence and Our Collective Future. "But if we are going to realize its tremendous promise to do good for the world while avoiding its equally great perils, we need to resolve the predicament of its potential to accelerate human values conflicts." If our current relationship to AI continues, it will not just disrupt labor markets and intensify inequality, Hershock said; it will change human behavior, structure our thinking and guide our decision-making. The debate about which human values and priorities AI should reflect and amplify will require nothing less than a "new, global ethical ecosystem," he said, one that privileges compassion, creativity, diversity, cooperation and responsible stewardship of our environments.