2022 Annual Uehiro Lectures in Practical Ethics: Ethics and Artificial Intelligence (1 of 3)

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Uehiro Lectures: Practical solutions for ethical challenges

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In the first of three 2022 Annual Uehiro Lectures in Practical Ethics, Professor Peter Railton explores how we might "programme ethics into AI"

Recent, dramatic advancement in the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) raise a host of ethical questions about the development and deployment of AI systems. Some of these are questions long recognized as of fundamental moral concern, and which may occur in particularly acute forms with AI—matters of distributive justice, discrimination, social control, political manipulation, the conduct of warfare, personal privacy, and the concentration of economic power. Other questions, however, concern issues that are more specific to the distinctive kind of technological change AI represents. For example, how to contend with the possibility that artificial agents might emerge with capabilities that go beyond human comprehension or control? But whether or when the threat of such “superintelligence” becomes realistic, we are now facing a situation in which partially-intelligent AI systems are increasingly being deployed in roles that involve relatively autonomous decision-making that carries real risk of harm. This urgently raises the question of how such partially-intelligent systems could become appropriately sensitive to moral considerations.

In these lectures I will attempt to take some first steps in answering that question, which often is put in terms of “programming ethics into AI”. However, we don’t have an “ethical algorithm” that could be programmed into AI systems, and that would enable them to respond aptly to an open-ended array of situations where moral issues are stake. Moreover, the current revolution in AI has provided ample evidence that system designs based upon the learning of complex representational structures and generative capacities have acquired higher levels of competence, situational sensitivity, and creativity in problem-solving than systems based upon pre-programmed expertise. Might a learning-based approach to AI be extended to the competence needed to identify and respond appropriately to moral dimensions of situations?

I will begin by outlining a framework for understanding what “moral learning” might be, seeking compatibility with a range of conceptions of the normative content of morality. I then will draw upon research on human cognitive and social development—research that itself is undergoing a “learning revolution”—to suggest how this research enables us to see at work components central to moral learning, and to ask what conditions are favorable to the development and working of these components. The question then becomes whether artificial systems might be capable of similar cognitive and social development, and what conditions would be favorable to this. Might the same learning-based approaches that have achieved such success in strategic game-playing, image identification and generation, and language recognition and translation also achieve success in cooperative game-playing, identifying moral issues in situations, and communicating and collaborating effectively on apt responses? How far might such learning go, and what could this tell us about how we might engage with AI systems to foster their moral development, and perhaps ours as well?

Episode Information

Series

Uehiro Lectures: Practical solutions for ethical challenges

People

Peter Railton

Keywords

philosophy

ethics

AI artificial intelligence

Department: Uehiro Oxford Institute

Date Added: 31/05/2022

Duration: 01:29:49

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Reflexive Control Theory: a Soviet perspective on influence and why it matters in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

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Changing Character of War

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Maria de Goeij provides a brilliant introduction to reflexive control theory, a Soviet theory of influence. Listen to learn more and appreciate how it can help us better understand today's world, including strategic decision making in hybrid warfare.

Reflexive control theory is a theory of influence that was developed in the 1960s, in Soviet Russia. During this lecture Maria will talk about the cybernetic origins of the theory, what we know about reflexive control, and what we do not know about it. She’ll then talk about why this under-researched theory from Soviet times is important to take into account in the todays world and how it can help us think about strategic decision making in hybrid warfare.

Maria works as an analyst for Thomson Reuters Special Services International and is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Changing Character of War Centre. Before joining TRSSI, Maria has worked for several think tanks in the Netherlands, the UK, and Montenegro. In addition to this, she has been working for several organisations as an analyst and advisor, and has considerable experience of all issues relating to hybrid and grey zone warfare.

Throughout her career, Maria specialised in the analysis of military thought and grand strategy, and strategic influence and statecraft. Her specific interest has been focused on improving contextual situational awareness, finding (qualitative and quantitative) patterns in conflict, including patterns of state and non-state actor behaviour, and the development of early warning systems. Together with the foregoing, her academic interests include the modelling of reflexive control theory.

Maria has a BA degree in European Studies, with a specialism in diplomacy, from The Hague University and an MSc degree in Crisis and Security Management from Leiden University.

Episode Information

Series

Changing Character of War

People

Maria de Goeij

Keywords

reflexive control theory

Department: Pembroke College

Date Added: 31/05/2022

Duration: 00:37:55

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Greg Walton

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James Walsh

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Kate Orkin

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Applying Wise Interventions around the World

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CSAE Research Podcasts

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Dr Greg Walton and Dr Kate Orkin discuss 'wise interventions', and how social science can use this psychologically approach to understand the major problems in social life - poverty, social exclusion, child abuse, and discrimination.

One of the key goals of social science is to understand and address the major problems in social life –poverty, social exclusion, child abuse, and discrimination. Different lenses offer different tools. In this podcast, Dr Greg Walton and Dr Kate Orkin discuss a distinctly social-psychological approach, called psychologically “wise” interventions. These interventions precisely address how people make sense of themselves, other people, and social situations. Greg talks about his work synthesizing this field and developing the theory underlying wise interventions. Kate talks about her work as a development economist applying these ideas to low-income settings in Ethiopia and Kenya. Greg and Kate have demonstrated that even brief interventions can have long lasting effects on educational and economic success, as well as on wellbeing, job satisfaction, and community involvement.

References by speakers:
• World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior (https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2015)
• Wise interventions database (https://www.wiseinterventions.org/), handbook (Walton, G. M., & Crum, A. J. (Eds.). (2020). Handbook of wise interventions. Guilford Publications), and Greg Walton’s work (http://gregorywalton-stanford.weebly.com/)
• Ethiopia Aspirations study (https://mbrg.bsg.ox.ac.uk/mind-and-behaviour-projects/aspirations-and-forward-looking-behaviour-rural-ethiopia), Kenya Aspirations study (https://mbrg.bsg.ox.ac.uk/mind-and-behaviour-projects/cash-transfers-and-aspirational-videos-kenya) and Kate Orkin’s other work (https://sites.google.com/site/kateorkin/home)
• Bugental, D. B., Ellerson, P. C., Lin, E. K., Rainey, B., Kokotovic, A., & O'Hara, N. (2002). A cognitive approach to child abuse prevention. Journal of Family Psychology, 16(3), 243. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12238408/
• Dr Greg Walton in conversation with Professor Anandi Mani at the Blavatnik School of Government https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phu1yH42jn0&ab_channel=BlavatnikSchoolofGovernment
• Bossuroy, T., Goldstein, M., Karimou, B., Karlan, D., Kazianga, H., Parienté, W., ... & Wright, K. A. (2022). Tackling psychosocial and capital constraints to alleviate poverty. Nature, 1-7. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04647-8
• Digital Green, Ethiopia https://www.digitalgreen.org/ethiopia/
• Paluck, E. L. (2009). Reducing intergroup prejudice and conflict using the media: a field experiment in Rwanda. Journal of personality and social psychology, 96(3), 574. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19254104/
• Elizabeth Tipton, generalizability research https://www.bethtipton.com/ and the National Study of Learning Mindsets (https://studentexperiencenetwork.org/national-mindset-study/)

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