IMPLEMENTING ETHICS INTO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A CONTRIBUTION, FROM A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE, TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN AI GOVERNANCE REGIME

Authors

Axel Walz, District Attorney, Public Prosecutor’s Office Traunstein
Kay Firth-Butterfield, Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, World Economic Forum, San Francisco

Abstract

The increasing use of AI and autonomous systems will have revolutionary impacts on society. Despite many benefits, AI and autonomous systems involve considerable risks that need to be managed. Minimizing these risks will emphasize the respective benefits while at the same time protecting the ethical values defined by fundamental rights and basic constitutional principles, thereby preserving a human centric society. This Article advocates for the need to conduct in-depth risk-benefit-assessments with regard to the use of AI and autonomous systems. This Article points out major concerns in relation to AI and autonomous systems such as likely job losses, causation of damages, lack of transparency, increasing loss of humanity in social relationships, loss of privacy and personal autonomy, potential information biases and the error proneness, and susceptibility to manipulation of AI and autonomous systems.

Citation

Axel Walz & Kay Firth-Butterfield, IMPLEMENTING ETHICS INTO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: A CONTRIBUTION, FROM A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE, TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN AI GOVERNANCE REGIME, 18 Duke Law & Technology Review 176-231 (2019)