Bernd Carsten Stahl and Daniel Eke (2024) have published a paper about ethics of emerging technology, titled “The ethics of ChatGPT – Exploring the ethical issues of an emerging technology” in the International Journal of Information Management. This paper doesn’t propose a completely new theoretical framework for ethics of emerging technology, in the sense of a grand unified theory. Instead, it systematically applies established approaches for analyzing the ethics of emerging technologies to the specific case of generative conversational AI systems like ChatGPT.
Here’s a breakdown of their approach and what they found:
Methodology: They combine ethical issues identified by:
- Anticipatory Technology Ethics
- Ethical Impact Assessment
- Ethical Issues of Emerging ICT Applications
- AI-specific issues from existing literature.
They then apply these combined frameworks to analyze the capabilities of ChatGPT.
Key Ethical Concerns Identified: Their analysis of ChatGPT reveals a broad range of ethical concerns, including:
- Responsibility: Who is accountable for AI-generated content and decisions?
- Inclusion: Are AI systems fair and accessible to all, or do they perpetuate existing inequalities?
- Social Cohesion: How might AI affect social interactions, trust, and the spread of misinformation?
- Autonomy: Does AI enhance or diminish human autonomy in decision-making and creative processes?
- Safety: What are the potential risks and harms associated with AI deployment?
- Bias: How do biases in training data translate into biased or discriminatory AI outputs?
- Accountability: How can we ensure transparency and accountability for AI systems’ actions?
- Environmental Impacts: The energy consumption and environmental footprint of large AI models.
- Intellectual Property: Issues related to authorship and ownership of AI-generated content.
- Academic Integrity: The implications for education and research, particularly regarding plagiarism and cheating.
- Data Privacy: How personal data is used and protected in AI systems.
- Malicious Use: The potential for AI to be used for harmful purposes.
Contribution: The paper argues for a more systematic and rigorous approach to AI ethics, moving beyond ad-hoc discussions. By using established ethical frameworks, they provide a comprehensive foundation for understanding the issues surrounding emerging technologies like ChatGPT. This allows for a more nuanced understanding of both the potential benefits and significant ethical concerns across various domains (social justice, individual autonomy, cultural identity, environmental issues).
In essence, while they don’t invent a new theoretical model, Stahl and Eke (2024) provide a robust framework for applying existing ethical theories and methods to analyze the complex ethical landscape of rapidly evolving AI technologies like generative AI. Their work highlights the need for careful consideration of these broad ethical dimensions in the design, deployment, and governance of AI systems.
