(in Polish) Ethics of new technologies

elective seminars

Classroom

During the seminar we will discuss ethical challenges posed by modern technologies, especially those used in modern biomedicine. The course will allow students to understand basic ethical issues related to autonomous and information technologies. Students will also learn the historical context that will highlight the ethical challenges associated with the rapid development of AI in the 21st century. At the seminar, we will also aim to articulate in a consistent manner a critical analysis of new ethical issues related to computational methods such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data.

Seminar will provide students with the necessary competences to identify and distinguish ethical problems specific to autonomous and adaptive technologies, as well as the implications of these technologies for important moral concepts such as agency, responsibility and privacy.

The seminar will cover three topics.

The first will deal with the ethical implications of new information technologies. The information revolution that modern society has undergone has led to the creation of an ‘infosphere’ – a scope of information that exceeds the processing capacity of the human mind. The amount of information produced today in a year exceeds the amount of information generated by all of humanity since the invention of tools for collecting and processing information (writing) to the present day. The production, processing and use of information has changed profoundly. The problem was not the scarcity of information, but the excess of it. The emergence of the ‘infosphere’ has led to a change in the ethical dimension of the relationship of producers and users of information to the information itself. Ignorance (lack of information) is no longer an ethically justifying circumstance. The new scale of information and new technologies used to process it raise new ethical and legal problems. How has privacy changed, i.e. the ability to control sensitive information about yourself? What ethical and legal problems arise in relation to automated information processing? What are the ethical consequences of conflicts in the ‘infosphere’ and what legal tools are used to regulate or solve them? And finally, how does new information technology change modern biomedicine – individual responsibility for health, rights and obligations of patents and healthcare professional, public health programs and interventions?

The second block will cover the ethics of AI-based technologies used in modern biomedical diagnostics and therapy as well as in public health practice. We will also discuss about the drive to regulate AI through ethical standards at the level of companies, states and supranational organizations. Ethical standards for AI currently play the role of soft law, the advantages of which, compared to traditional regulations, are flexibility of the regulatory process, susceptibility to interpretation and ease of adaptation to changing technical and economic realities. The point of reference will be EU ethical regulations regarding AI and solutions for their implementation and enforcement in the context of striving for a responsible AI.

The third block will be devoted to the introduction to the ethical and legal issues related to the relationship between humans and robots, especially medical robots. As robots have an increasingly serious and wider impact on our lives, it has become necessary to formulate basic rules that machines should guide in activities that affect us. During the classes, we will indicate the areas in which ethical problems arise in the relationship between humans and robots. We will discuss the basic rules that may be required of robots in their relationship with humans. We will also consider whether humans may have any ethical requirements when dealing with robots.

Coeckelbergh M. 2020. AI Ethics. MIT Press.

Dignum V. 2019. Responsible Artificial Intelligence: How to Develop and Use AI in a Responsible Way. Springer.

Dubber M.D., Pasquale, F., and Das, S. (Eds.). 2020. The Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI. Oxford University Press

Floridi, L. 2011. The Philosophy of Information. Oxford University Press.

Floridi, L. 2013. The Ethics of Information. Oxford University Press.

Floridi, L. 2014. The Fourth Revolution: How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality. Oxford University Press.

Hansson, S. (Ed.). 2017. The Ethics of Technology Methods and Approaches. Rowman & Littlefield.

Leben, D. 2018. Ethics for Robots: How to Design a Moral Algorithm. Routledge.

Lin P., Abney K., and Bekey, G.A. 2011. Robot Ethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Robotics. MIT Press.

Lin P., Abney K., and Jenkins R. 2017. Robot Ethics 2.0: From Autonomous Cars to Artificial Intelligence. Oxford University Press.

Pasquale, F. 2020. New Laws of Robotics: Defending Human Expertise in the Age of AI. The Belknap Press.

Peterson, M. 2017. The Ethics of Technology: A Geometric Analysis of Five Moral Principles. Oxford University Press.

Turner, J. 2019. Robot Rules. Regulating Artificial Intelligence. Palgrave Macmillan

Van de Poel, I., and Royakkers L. 2011. Ethics, Technology, and Engineering: An Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell.

Knowledge

At the end of the course, the student has knowledge and understanding of:

- the role of philosophy and ethics in development and use of selected new technologies (information technology, AI, robotics), especially in the context of modern biomedicine;

- main issues and problems of ethics of selected new technologies;

- multi- and interdisciplinary terminology used in ethics of new technologies;

- the importance of socio-cultural, historical, political and economic factors for the development and use of selected new technologies, especially in biomedicine.

Skills

At the end of the course, the student is able to:

- identify and analyze philosophical and ethical problems related to the development and use of selected new technologies (information technology, AI, robotics), especially in biomedicine;

- critically examine views and arguments developed by other authors, including other students, or presented in the seminar readings;

- prepare a critical written assignment on the subject of the seminar;

- prepare and deliver oral presentation on the subject of the seminar.

Social Competences

At the end of the course, the student is able and ready to:

- critically evaluate the quality of received or acquired information;

- recognize the importance of philosophical and ethical reflection for solving problems brought by new technologies (information technology, AI, robotics;

- engage in developing ethics of new technologies, both in theory and practice;

- recognize ethical problems and challenges related to his or her own research and professional activity, to promote relevant ethical standards.

The final grade will be based on:

(1) activity: an insightful participation in the seminar discussions – 25%;

(2) oral presentation of a seminar topic – 50%;

(3) written assignment – 25%

Two absences are allowed.