UNIC Lightning Bites – Agents of Intelligence: AI Ethics (Session 5)

Right at the beginning of her presentation, Ms Philippi showed the participants that there is already a deep and far-reaching connection between smart technologies and our living environment, which have a great impact on individual lives and society. AI is no longer just science fiction, but is already part of everyone's everyday life, as AI is already widely used in recommendations, decision-making and also in communication systems such as chatbots and ChatGPT, among others.

Therefore, it is now necessary to address ethical issues. Ms Philippi presents what she sees as three key challenges in the ethical design of AI:

• Transforming human values into evaluation criteria.
• Designing appropriate practice (systems + use), e.g. human action and oversight; technical robustness and security; privacy and data governance; diversity, non-discrimination and fairness.
• Additional task for AI ethics: making and keeping risks and potentials visible (referring to the problem of technological "invisibility": when we use technologies, we stop "seeing" them).

In conclusion, Ms Philippi summarises the importance of for society as follows: AI ethics are necessary to shape, inform and reflect. In these three fields of action, she shows how researchers can contribute their knowledge for the benefit of society.