Selected as one of the 25 experts of the new Global partnership on AI Working group, Vincent C. Müller is Professor of Ethics of Technology at the University of Eindhoven, University Academic Fellow at the University of Leeds and Turing Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute. Specialized on the ethics of disruptive technologies, he has just published the article “Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics” in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and is very well positioned to help us navigate the sometime confusing dynamic field of AI ethics and explain the crucial issues we must now address: opacity, the use of data and surveillance. He is now writing a book, “Can Machines Think? Fundamental Questions of Artificial Intelligence” which will be published next year by Oxford University Press, New York.
The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted a two-fold observation: on the one hand, our technological lead did not prevent us from being hit hard by the scourge. On the other hand, political decision-makers, business leaders and citizens spontaneously turned to technology to find solutions to the crisis. Salvage reflex or solutionism?
Racism, bloodshed, speciesism, climate change... You want a more ethical world? Dr. Thilo Hagendorff, a researcher at the University of Tübingen, says you should abandon patterns of thinking that draw an artificial boundary between "one's own" and "others" and develop unconditional compassion. Do you want more ethical AI and technologies? Forget the dominant principle-based approach and adopt the virtues-based approach. You should also start working towards an ethical work climate.
What if cities already have the infrastructure they need to become smart? What if the challenges are more cultural than technological? Fábio Duarte is an expert in urban planning and mobility, he is, among others, a senior researcher at the MIT Senseable City Lab and a consultant for the World Bank in transport and land use planning. He says we need to go beyond flashy technology projects and make the most of what we already have: this is his "Flintstone" approach to smart cities. This approach allows him to avoid the major pitfalls and propose original projects such as a fleet of autonomous boats in the Amsterdam canals or a cheap and operational large-scale way to test millions of Americans for COVID-19 ... through sewage systems.
As new technologies and scientific methods for sampling and studying the ocean develop rapidly, scientists and companies are increasingly interested in exploring the genetic diversity of the underwater world. Bioprospecting, the search for marine genetic resources (GMRs) with potential commercial value, is not regulated in international waters, but ongoing negotiations on United Nations (UN) treaties could change the governance landscape. Klaudija Cremers, a researcher in international ocean governance at the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) in Paris, spoke about the prospects for biotechnology and the outstanding issues in the final stages of treaty negotiations.
The Covid-19 pandemic has shed a harsh and sometimes unsustainable light on fragile and painful parts of our society, from emergency services to shelters for refugees, the homeless and battered women. At the same time, AI has proven to be a formidable tool in the governance of health problems... Provided, warns Jay Shaw, the Research Director of AI Ethics & Health at the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics1, that we think in terms of design ethics.
Susanna Schellenberg, Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at the Rutgers University, analyzes how the perception of the world around us is based on discriminating abilities in the neurosciences. Hence the need to develop a philosophy of perception. Interview at the frontier of science and phenomenology.
The coronavirus projected all decision-makers on sharp ridgelines. The fierce debates on tracing apps and the use of data illustrate the delicate trade-offs to be made in terms of efficiency, privacy and social acceptability, but also digital sovereignty, in order to secure populations and economies as quickly as possible. The covid19 reaches us in a world that is much more digitalized than it was during previous pandemics, and less so than it will be in the next ones. It is one of our assets. But any solution will carry its share of risk, which must be minimized and then managed within the overall ethical framework that we want for our society. This situation invites us to accelerate the implementation of new modes of governance of algorithmic devices and data, especially in the field of health, both nationally and internationally. This is the spirit of this forum co-signed with Eric Salobir in Le Figaro, and one of the works we are carrying out with the Human Technology Foundation and its partners.
This time of confinement highlights the urgency of considering neuroscience as a discipline that can help everyone to live it. Understanding and studying human behaviour will make it possible to measure the impact of such confinement on each one of us and to identify those who need help. Neurotechnologies, which are intended to be at the interface between the brain and the machine, can be very interesting tools for understanding these behaviours. On the other hand, it is becoming clear that the boundaries between the medical and non-medical uses of these neurotechnologies are becoming very porous, inviting us to reflect on neuroethical issues in order to put safeguards in place for these uses.
By dint of wanting to accumulate data before making a decision, governments are becoming colossi with feet of silicon. They are at the mercy of the reliability and of the precision of these mega data on the one hand, and at the mercy of the interpretations that are made of them on the other.
An overview by anthropologist Claire Somerville, Executive Director of the Institute of Gender Studies in Geneva.
The trust crisis that is hitting the Internet today is mainly due to the multiple scandals involving the use of data. Restoring this indispensable trust, says Lionel Maurel, a lawyer and co-founder of "La Quadrature du Net", means putting the notion of the Common Good back at the heart of thinking. And this requires the social portability of data.
In a media ecosystem dominated by Facebook - half of the population only gets information through social networks - it is not the democracy but the French Republic that is in crisis. And with it a constitution that is no longer in line with the citizens' expectations. Behind this crisis, observes Fabrice Epelboin, an entrepreneur, social media specialist and teacher at Sciences-Po Paris, there is the question of dignity in the digital age.
By Bogomil Kohlbrenner
How can you do better with less? This is the proposal of the so-called "frugal" technologies initiated by French-American academic Navi Rajavi. It is an opportunity for Swiss anthropologist Bogomil Kohlbrenner to take stock of a low-tech industry that does more and more, but more importantly, is increasingly competitive with high tech....
In the digital age, where trust is attached to blockchain," notes Damien de Chillaz, Vice President B2B Platforms at Capgemini, "this technology makes it possible to guarantee trust within a business ecosystem that has become virtuous because it guarantees, among other things, the identities of the people involved in exchanges. Demonstration.
Over the last few decades, neurology and computer science have been constantly exploring common territories and the ethical questions raised by this alliance are becoming explosive: on the one hand, the possibility of acting through thought on digital devices and, on the other, the possibility of "brainjacking" and of hacking a connected brain... This is enough to feed the worst Orwellian nightmare unless we practice "responsible neuroengineering", say the neuroscientist Laure Tabouy and the Dominican Bernardas Verbickas.
If 2019 was the year of the "citizen data scientist", according to the Dice.com website 2020 will be the year of the "citizen data engineers", but why does the idea of citizenship arise in the big data? The point of view of Lauriane Gorce, Scientific Director of the Institute of Technology for the Human Being in Montreal.
Watch the presentation of our report "Artificial intelligence, solidarity and insurance in Europe and Canada" in front of the European Commission.
Artificial intelligence is an incomparable tool for personalizing offers, products and prices accordingly to the customers. In the frame of the mandate of the newly created International Panel on Artificial Intelligence (IPAI), and in the context of of the 100 days deadline set by the European Commission to regulate AI, it is important to check that this customization does not turn into individualism and that it is not likely to harm society as a whole.
Here is the new interview of the president of OPTIC in Fortune Magazine. In this piece are described the activities of our think tank, the unique research we are conducting and our latest collaboration with the OPTIC office in Canada
