Opinion: Ethical concerns surround artificial intelligence

Have you seen “The Matrix,” the 1999 science fiction film starring Keanu Reeves?

In the movie, we learn humankind developed artificial intelligence, and after pushing it too far, the sentient machines revolted. Humankind was all but destroyed, as was the world.

Of course, a lot of great action takes place in the movie to lead to a satisfying conclusion for our human main characters, but I want to consider the role of AI in the movie.

With the release of the ChatGPT chatbot late last year, the technology and resulting conversation behind AI have intensified. And ethical questions abound.

Some common ones: Will AI replace human workers? Can AI be trusted with business tasks? Should content generated by AI be marked as such for transparency?

Or in the case of “The Matrix,” if AI machines eventually are programmed to gain sentience, how will they be treated? Would an AI society be accepted? And what would be the repercussions if AI is mistreated?

I’ve been testing ChatGPT in recent days to see how far the technology can go. I asked it some questions about ethical concerns and potential consequences.

Ethical responsibilities are important in business, but I think about larger companies that have to worry intensely about profits and report to shareholders. In those situations, will ethical boundaries be held in check? I asked ChatGPT to weigh in.

“It’s important to note that ethical considerations are increasingly becoming an important part of the conversation around AI, and many companies are taking steps to ensure that their AI systems are developed and used in a responsible and ethical way,” ChatGPT writes. “One way that companies are addressing ethical concerns around AI is by investing in ethical AI research and development. Many companies have established teams and departments dedicated to researching and developing AI in an ethical way, and some are also working to establish ethical AI guidelines and principles.”

ChatGPT also pointed to Federal Trade Commission guidance on the ethical use of AI.

While it’s still in the early stages and far from the dystopian viewpoint presented in films like “The Matrix,” we still must consider ethical questions as we delve into this world. With large investments in AI by companies like Google and Microsoft, the technology appears poised to skyrocket in popularity and value.

The FTC guidance calls on companies developing AI to consider legal provisions. For example, an AI cannot engage in unfair or deceptive practices legally any more than a human can. Then there’s the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

“The ECOA makes it illegal for a company to use a biased algorithm that results in credit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age or because a person receives public assistance,” FTC officials say.

When queried, ChatGPT says it operates through a “large neural network that has been trained on vast amounts of text data.”

It adds, “Because AI systems are trained on data, they can pick up biases and perpetuate them in their decisions and recommendations. This can lead to unfair and discriminatory outcomes for certain groups of people.”

Back to the FTC guidance. The agency’s guidelines include recommendations for companies introducing AI into their business operations:

• Watch out for discriminatory outcomes. AI must be tested for biases to weed them out.
• Embrace transparency. Be clear with customers that AI is in use and for what reason. With ChatGPT, for instance, it is quick to point out that it’s an AI developed by humans and that it is not infallible.
• Tell the truth about how you use data. If a user must opt in to use an AI service, it should be spelled out simply how their data is used.

These guidelines for businesses are a good starting point, but we’re only scratching the surface of what AI can do.

Like with other technology, AI will require constant education and adaptation, especially when it’s used in a business-to-business or business-to-consumer scenario.

It appears we’re moving into a big paradigm shift in the way technology works. And with that comes endless ethical concerns in how AI interacts with humans.

So, I asked ChatGPT for a top recommendation on how companies can ethically use AI as the technology develops.

“One of the most important recommendations for companies to ethically use AI is to ensure that their AI systems are developed and deployed with transparency and accountability in mind,” ChatGPT writes. “This includes being transparent about how the AI works, what data it uses and how it makes decisions or recommendations.”

Springfield Business Journal Digital Editor Geoff Pickle can be reached at gpickle@sbj.net.