Prof. De' and his co-researcher and doctoral student Sai Dattathrani examine ethical implications of AI from the perspective of the purpose of human life
23 SEPTEMBER, 2019: Facebook has selected six projects from India that will focus on three key areas – governance, cultural diversity and operationalising ethics. One of the research projects picked for the governance category, ‘Ethical Implications of Delegating Decision-making Journey to AI Systems’, is led by Prof. Rahul De', from the Information Sciences area at IIMB. His co-researcher is doctoral scholar Sai Dattathrani.
The objective of the study is to examine the ethical implications of delegating the journey of decision making to autonomous (AI) systems. “Much of current research on the ethical concerns that comes with delegation of decision-making to AI systems has focused on the outcome, such as human or material loss. However, ethical concerns arise irrespective of the outcome, such as – is it ethical to change the purpose and nature of human decision-making,” says Prof. Rahul De'.
Prior research reveals that humans value the journey of decision-making – the experience of making decisions based on their insights and experience(s), and living through the consequence(s). This study, explains Prof. De', will examine these personal aspects, and the ethical implications thereof, of delegating this “journey.” The output of the study will guide the design of ethical, autonomous decision-making systems. Further, it will examine ethical implications of AI from the perspective of the purpose of human life.