- September 19, 2023
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- September 19, 2023
On September 19, the Aspen Institute Germany and Telefónica Germany hosted a Digital Dish event titled, “The Ethical Dimension of AI – Where Will this Journey Head to?”. We were happy to welcome Dr. Daniela Brönstrup, Head of Digital and Innovation Policy Department, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection; Prof. Dr. Joanna J. Bryson, Professor of Ethics and Technology at the Hertie School; and Ana Chubinidze, Founder and CEO, AdalanAI.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become more than just a buzzword in the last few years and is now central in both politics and business. The introduction of large language model AI products, like ChatGPT and Midjourney, has solidified the importance of AI and brought new energy into discussions about it.
In politics, AI is a growing target of regulation. The European Union is developing a first of its kind legislation to regulate AI based on the risks presented by the technology, and the European Parliament hopes to have an agreement on legislation by the end of this year. In the United States, the Biden Administration published a “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights” in October 2022 to serve as a guide for protecting users from harmful AI, and recent state legislative actions have moved the American regulatory process forward.
Across businesses, AI has served to simplify processes, make supply chains more sustainable, reduce energy use, and otherwise provide noticeable benefits. These benefits, however, have been coupled with concerns about technology reducing the workforce and the security and data privacy issues that AI can present.
While AI can likely solve more problems than it presents, there are ethical implications that must be considered and addressed. For instance, does the AI result in copyright infringement? Is data protection at risk with AI-driven technology? How do the algorithms handle biases, whether from the user or from the data used to inform it? Can AI-generated decisions be tracked and challenged in court? If regulation is the next step, how should the ethical implications of AI be included?
Together with guests from politics, government, business, and research, these and other questions were discussed to debate what is next for artificial intelligence and how decision makers should consider the technology moving forward.
