Some Suggestions for How to Proceed

Abstract

This final chapter makes some provisional suggestions for the development of codes of ethics based upon the discussion so far. This will be of necessity incomplete, but there is a need to contribute to ongoing debate. Any code of ethics needs to be embedded well into an organisation and its culture, and specific ways in which codes of ethics for AI might face problems are indicated. Procedures for drawing up and implementing codes need to take note of diversity of thinking style and of experience in participants. The problems of transparency inherent in the operation of some AI, together with the important public concerns about the impact of AI, means that maximising transparency and openness in codes of ethics, appropriate to a particular organisation, is highly desirable. Codes of ethics need to balance attention to abstract principles with specificity, especially in AI where application of ethical ideals must be translatable into concrete practice. Procedures for revision and critique of codes are essential. Ethical discussion leading up to codes of ethics, as well as the codes of ethics themselves, must include consideration of issues concerning boundaries of human functioning, which is a key issue in AI and which may be left out of some ethical debates. Particular attention to the implications of replacing or extending human agency , and impacts upon complex social systems, would be useful. Lastly, the Asilomar AI Principles are briefly discussed, as an example of a recent attempt to produce principles intended to stimulate debate and discussion about beneficial and ethical AI.