Science Research Management

Science Research Management ›› 2021, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (8): 9-16.

Special Issue: 人工智能

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A research on artificial intelligence from the perspective of science and technology ethics

Li Chang, Jin Yanghua   

  1. School of Business Administration, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, Zhejiang, China
  • Received:2020-08-03 Revised:2021-04-27 Online:2021-08-20 Published:2021-08-13

Abstract:     Artificial intelligence not only affects the production and life style of human society profoundly, but also causes many ethical dilemmas and challenges. These problems cannot be solved completely by technology. As the fast iterative of technology and business models, the legislation and regulation is also difficult to keep up with the pace of technology development. Therefore, setting up new ethics of science and technology to promote better artificial intelligence service is the subject of the whole society. From the perspective of science and technology ethics, this paper reviews and analyzes relevant researches, focusing on the ethical issues in artificial intelligence fields, such as robotics, algorithms, big data and unmanned vehicle. 
     The research on machine ethics focuses on moral responsibility, realization of machine ethics and robot ethics. It is the core of robot ethics to realize the harmony among robot, human and nature. The emergence and governance of algorithm discrimination in algorithm ethics has become the focus of academic research and public attention. As algorithms have more and more life attributes, algorithm discrimination is the most likely ethical risk in the algorithmic decision-making process. Unmanned vehicles are faced with such ethical issues as the determination of "moral algorithm", the legal responsibility of traffic accidents and the protection of passenger privacy. Ethics has become one of the main obstacles to commercializing unmanned vehicle. Big data technology has produced a series of ethical problems, such as insufficient autonomy of data subject, vanishing boundary of individual data right, and violation of information privacy, which are generated from the source of subject, objective reasons and social background and need to be solved from the establishment of ethical principles, ethical governance system and ethical policies of big data. In many cases, the ethical issues of big data technology are essentially the ethical contradictions between users as data producers and users of big data technology. Artificial intelligence technology brings a series of ethical risks. The ethical governance of artificial intelligence technology needs to reshape ethical strategies from the perspectives of government management, technology, public and relationship, and to be based on the concept of "responsible innovation", the participation of multiple subjects and the ethical embedding of the whole process of technology development. In general, the study of artificial intelligence ethics is still in its early stage of development, and there are still deficiencies in the localization, systematization, comprehensiveness and implementability of the study, which need to be further explored with the development of artificial intelligence technology. 
    In the future, first of all, we should establishing the ethics principle and management system according to Chinese situation to promote the high-quality development of artificial intelligence in China. Secondly, we should promote interdisciplinary cooperation in the study of artificial intelligence ethics. Thirdly, we need to take into account the context in which different cases occur, and integrate theory analysis into practice cases to improve the pertinence and operability of artificial intelligence ethics. Fourthly, scholars generally believe that only the government, the market, social organizations, academia and other diverse subjects to participate, we should make clear the responsibility division and cooperation of multiple subjects in ethical governance. At present, how to realize the responsibility division and cooperation of multiple subjects still needs to be discussed and continuously promoted.

Key words: artificial intelligence, science and technology ethics, ethical governance