Ethical Engineering - Machines ethics modu… · Ethical Engineering Milo Phillips-Brown +...

Ethical Engineering

Milo Phillips-Brown + milopb@mit.edu + milopb.com

Postdoctoral Associate in the Ethics of Technology, MIT PhilosophyResearch Fellow in Digital Ethics and Governance, Jain Family Institute

Overview

Overview

1. Why care about engineering ethically?

Overview

1. Why care about engineering ethically?

2. Why do technologies do wrong?

Overview

1. Why care about engineering ethically?

2. Why do technologies do wrong? (and how to prevent it)

3. An exercise in ethical engineering

Why care about engineering ethically?

(you tell me!)

Why care about engineering ethically?

(you tell me!)

Overview

1. Why care about engineering ethically?

2. Why do technologies do wrong?

Why do technologies do wrong?

3 possibilities

Option 1:Bad applesmastermind

hi

Option 2:Incompetencemastermind

hi

Option 3:Somebody does what

makes sense

Often, technologies do wrong because people do what makes sense

Why would it make sense to make things

that do wrong?

Engineering doesn’t happen in a vacuum

hi

Ethical engineering is not incentivized

hi

Unethical engineering is normal

hi

The ethical stuff is not taken into account

hi

When a technology does wrong ask: what was taken into account?

incentivized?normal?

…?

Overview

1. Why care about engineering ethically?

2. Why do technologies do wrong? (and how to prevent it)

3. An exercise in ethical engineering:

How to take ethics into account?

Ethics Protocol

Ethics Protocol: overview

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

IDENTIFYSTAKE-

HOLDERS

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

IDENTIFYSTAKE-

HOLDERS

IDENTIFYVALUES

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

IDENTIFYSTAKE-

HOLDERS

IDENTIFYVALUES

MAP VALUES TO CHOICES

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

IDENTIFYSTAKE-

HOLDERS

IDENTIFYVALUES

MAP VALUES TO CHOICES

CHOOSE!

Project 5

The small object next to a computer keyboard is most likely to be a computer mouse, not an elephant. In the real world, objects often co-vary with other objects and particular environments. In the project, we have two primary goals. The first is to develop an understanding for the brain’s ability to process and comprehend visual input through a biological and quantified explanation. Second, we further hope to utilize this understanding towards building a robust computational model, which would contribute to enabling current technology to identify visual cues more meticulously.

Project 5

The small object next to a computer keyboard is most likely to be a computer mouse, not an elephant. In the real world, objects often co-vary with other objects and particular environments. In the project, we have two primary goals. The first is to develop an understanding for the brain’s ability to process and comprehend visual input through a biological and quantified explanation. Second, we further hope to utilize this understanding towards building a robust computational model, which would contribute to enabling current technology to identify visual cues more meticulously.

An exercise in ethical engineering:

Place recognition

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

IDENTIFYSTAKE-

HOLDERS

Stakeholders

Stakeholders

• A stakeholder is anyone or anything that can affect or be affected by your project.

Stakeholders

• A stakeholder is anyone or anything that can affect or be affected by your project.

• Stakeholders are not just stockholders, you and your company, or your users.

Stakeholders

• A stakeholder is anyone or anything that can affect or be affected by your project.

• Stakeholders are not just stockholders, you and your company, or your users.

• Stakeholders are often indirect.

Question for you: why do we define

“stakeholder” so broadly?

definition (from before):a stakeholder is anyone or anything that can affect or be affected by your project

Why define “stakeholder” so broadly?

• There are no ethical externalities: from the ethical point of view, everything matters

• That doesn’t mean you’re responsible for everything.

• But to be engineer ethically, you need to know what the ethical effects are!

Why define “stakeholder” so broadly?

• There are no ethical externalities: from the ethical point of view, everything matters

• That doesn’t mean you’re responsible for everything.

• But to be engineer ethically, you need to know what the ethical effects are!

Why define “stakeholder” so broadly?

• There are no ethical externalities: from the ethical point of view, everything matters

• That doesn’t mean you’re responsible for everything.

• But to be engineer ethically, you need to know what the ethical effects are!

Why define “stakeholder” so broadly?

• There are no ethical externalities: from the ethical point of view, everything matters

• That doesn’t mean you’re responsible for everything.

• But to be engineer ethically, you need to know what the ethical effects are!

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

IDENTIFYSTAKE-

HOLDERS

FROM STAKEHOLDERS TO WHAT’S AT STAKE:

VALUES (MORAL SIGNIFICANCE)

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

IDENTIFYSTAKE-

HOLDERS

IDENTIFYVALUES

HOW DO WE IDENTIFY VALUES AT PLAY?

MORAL LENSESDifferent ways of looking at effects on stakeholders that reveal different kinds of moral significance

OUTCOME LENSIn what ways does your technology turn out better or worse for each stakeholder in comparison to the starting state?

PROCESS LENS

How did the process treat each stakeholder?

STRUCTURE LENSHow are the outcomes distributed among stakeholders? what were the differences in how stakeholders were treated in the process? what are the patterns?

Group work: moral lenses exercise

• Outcomes: identify two stakeholders that may be benefited (and how); identify two stakeholders that may be harmed (and how).

• Process: identify a situation where things look bad, process-wise, even if it looks good outcome-wise

• Structure: identify a situation we things don’t look good, structure-wise, even if it looks fine, outcome- or process-wise

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

IDENTIFYSTAKE-

HOLDERS

IDENTIFYVALUES

THE CHOICES YOU MAKE HAVE VALUE-

LADEN EFFECTS: DESIGN IS VALUE-

LADEN

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

IDENTIFYSTAKE-

HOLDERS

IDENTIFYVALUES

MAP VALUES TO CHOICES

Group work

Group work

• Fill out at least one chart:

Group work

• Fill out at least one chart:

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

IDENTIFYSTAKE-

HOLDERS

IDENTIFYVALUES

MAP VALUES TO CHOICES

Ethics Protocol: overview

ENVISION FUTURES

IDENTIFYSTAKE-

HOLDERS

IDENTIFYVALUES

MAP VALUES TO CHOICES

CHOOSE

THE IMPORTANCE OF STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

imagining futures + other stakeholders + values

should stakeholders have some ownership over design process?

The module is over.

1. Why care about engineering ethically?

2. Why do technologies do wrong? (and how to prevent it)

3. An exercise in ethical engineering

The module is over. Now what?

1. Why care about engineering ethically?

2. Why do technologies do wrong? (and how to prevent it)

3. An exercise in ethical engineering

Your feedback will really help

bit.ly/ethicsfeedback958