Op-ed: What are the ethical possibilities of artificial intelligence?

Editor's note: A version of this commentary by Brigham Young University professor Darin Gates was published by BYU's Wheatley Institution on May 22. Artificial intelligence, or AI, generates the most pressing ethical questions of any technology today, in part because of the nearly ubiquitous influence it will have in so many areas of our lives. AI will have an immense ethical impact both in terms of the amount of good it can bring about, and in terms of the potential harms it can unleash. Interest in the ethical dimensions of AI has increased dramatically in recent years -- from the nearly daily reporting of ethical-related AI issues in various news outlets, to major companies such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, DeepMind, Microsoft and IBM coming together to create the Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society. Elon Musk, the late Stephen Hawking and 8,000 others have signed an open letter with concerns about the future of AI. There has thus been an increasing recognition for the need to focus on the ethical aspects of AI. Here are some of the most significant ethical issues facing the continued implementation of artificial intelligence.