Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-nptnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-20T07:15:28.281Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - The Ethical Status of an AI

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2023

By
James A. Foster  and
Donald C. Wunsch
Edited by
Xiuzhen Huang ,
Jason H. Moore  and
Yu Zhang
Xiuzhen Huang
Affiliation:
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
Jason H. Moore
Affiliation:
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
Yu Zhang
Affiliation:
Trinity University, Texas
Get access

Summary

This chapter explores the ethical status of a presumed artificially intelligent machine (AI) and the grounds for such status from the perspective of ethical philosophy. The chapter explicitly repudiates anthropocentric claims for an AI or assumptions about its capabilities or motivations for its existence or actions. It also avoids any speculation about whether or when AI capabilities may come about. Instead, it provides a framework for building the vocabulary and concepts for analysis of important ethical issues for AI from first principles. The philosophical foundations of ethics considered here are nihilism, divine command, consequentialism, deontology, and virtues ethics.

Keywords

ethicsartificial intelligencephilosophy
Type
Chapter
Information
Integrative Bioinformatics for Biomedical Big Data
A No-Boundary Thinking Approach
 , pp. 135 - 146
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aristotle, . Nichomachean Ethics (trans. 2011. Nichomachean Ethics, Bartlett RC, Collins SD. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press).Google Scholar
Bentham, J, 1789. An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. London.Google Scholar
Buddha, . Dhammapada (trans. 2006. The Dhammapada: A New Translation of the Buddhist Classic with Annotation, Fronsdal G, Kornfield J. Berkeley, CA: Shambhala Publications).Google Scholar
Confucius., Analects (trans. 2008. The Analects, Dawson R). Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Kant, I., 1785. Die Grundlage zur Metaphysik der Sitten. Königsberg (trans. 1996. The Metaphysics of Morals, Gregor MJ. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Mill, JS, 1863. Utilitarianism. London: Parker, Son & Bourn, West Strand.Google Scholar
Plato, . Euthyphro (trans. 1970. Plato’s “Euthyphro” and the Earlier Theory of Forms, Allen RE, London: Routledge).Google Scholar
Singer, P, 2009. Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for our Treatment of Animals. New York: Harper.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×