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I don't think I've shared the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics's Ethics in Technology Practice resources on LinkedIn before. Back in 2017/2018 Shannon Vallor, Irina Raicu, and I developed these materials to meet a significant need that we saw in the tech industry. Those developing the tech needed better tools for thinking ethically about their work. As a response, we developed these resources, including the Ethics in Tech Practice Toolkit, an overview of lenses for examining ethics in the technology context, a set of best practices for ethics in tech, a set of case studies to spark discussion, a sample design workflow for incorporating these tools into technology, a sample set of slides for presenting these materials in a workshop, and more. All the resources are free, but we have worked with companies who want to do more with these tools, customizing these resources for their use. It is hard to estimate, but perhaps tens of thousands of employees have been taught or used these materials at this point. Special thanks to Omidyar Network for funding the creation of these materials "back in the day" and Paula Goldman and Yoav Schlesinger for working with us, as well as Alex Kozak at X, and the many others who have helped us to pilot, refine, and improve these materials over the years.

Could AI revolutionise academic ethics review boards, ensuring consistent decisions? #Ethics #AI #AIinEducation Read the full story 👇

Are we being identified by facial recognition without our knowledge? If so, how does that impact our privacy? These are the questions asked in a summer program at Northeastern’s Ethics Institute. The course teaches researchers how to examine artificial intelligence and data systems through an ethical framework. “We’re looking at bias, what kind of fairness metrics are appropriate, and what algorithmic bias is,” said philosophy and computer science professor Kathleen Creel, when outlining class topics. Ethics concerning AI and data is a new area of study, which is why Ronald Sandler, CSSH interim dean, professor of philosophy, and director of the Ethics Institute, believes expanding the field is ever so important. Programs like the Ethics Institute can “train people who can work at the intersection” of technology and humanities, he asserted. Read more in an article from Northeastern Global News: https://lnkd.in/dd-stcjK

Are you using generative AI in your practice? Ethics Advisory Opinion 24-1 provides new guidance.

Can a doorbell be unethical? If it's involved in surveillance, it can... Check out this story and more in the WEO Weekly. We cover the week's top 5 Global Ethics stories, summarized to save you valuable time: - Cyprus introduces ethics in government - Does our brain have ethical rights? The new concept of neurorights - 2023 Global Business Ethics Survey findings - AI ethics aren't optional https://lnkd.in/eFP2g2Na Subscribe and follow the WEO for more content like this.

Stanford’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute has released a study suggesting that industry ethics teams lack authority and resources within organizations and are often under-resourced, thus forcing them to “employ persuasive skills and interpersonal strategies in order to make any headway.” The study, which involved interviewing tech industry employees (no, not me), finds a disconnect between leadership commitments to ethics and the teams responsible for carrying out these commitments leading to inconsistent application of ethical principles within organizations and across industry. While ethics teams certainly need resources to grapple with the many and complex ethical challenges that a tech company can face, I think the conclusion that the ethics team should have some authority to demand specific action suggests that somehow the ethics team is going to always be right. There are few - if any - clear answers around ethics, and a team that has to engage the rest of the company with “persuasive skills and interpersonal strategies” is forced to muster the strongest arguments they can rather than rely on some perceived moral authority that may very well be misplaced or at best is not clearly superior to the moral agency of any other employee who just happens to not have “ethics” in their title. Organizations need to take ethical engineering seriously and they need dedicated personnel who focus on these issues, but what those personnel need most is resources and support - not necessarily power. https://lnkd.in/eMAt7Xxs. #ethics #ethicalai #ethicalengineering

🔍 New study finds that tech industry ethics teams often lack authority and resources, impacting the implementation of responsible AI initiatives. Here's what you need to know from the research: - Companies' promises of fairness, transparency, and accountability are often criticized as "ethics washing," with concerns that these are merely lip service. - Ethics teams are found to be under-resourced, lacking leadership buy-in, and operating without formal authority to require important ethics fixes before product releases. - The implementation of responsible AI policies in the tech industry is inconsistent, with decentralized product teams often bypassing ethics input for various reasons, including conflicts with other goals such as user engagement. The study recommends: - Incentivizing product teams to incorporate ethics considerations early on and providing bureaucratic support to empower ethics teams in their work. - Formal bureaucratic structures that require ethics reviews at the beginning of the product development process, to ensure that ethics workers have the authority to address problems. - Rewarding teams for ethical work with "ethics champion" bonuses and acknowledging ethical stances within the company. This illuminating research exposes the challenges and complexities of implementing responsible AI initiatives in the tech industry, shedding light on the need for institutional change. #AIethics #ResponsibleTech #EthicalAI https://lnkd.in/es3FUXms