Human-aligned artificial intelligence is a multiobjective problem
- Authors: Vamplew, Peter , Dazeley, Richard , Foale, Cameron , Firmin, Sally , Mummery, Jane
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Ethics and Information Technology Vol. 20, no. 1 (2018), p. 27-40
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- Description: As the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) systems improve, it becomes important to constrain their actions to ensure their behaviour remains beneficial to humanity. A variety of ethical, legal and safety-based frameworks have been proposed as a basis for designing these constraints. Despite their variations, these frameworks share the common characteristic that decision-making must consider multiple potentially conflicting factors. We demonstrate that these alignment frameworks can be represented as utility functions, but that the widely used Maximum Expected Utility (MEU) paradigm provides insufficient support for such multiobjective decision-making. We show that a Multiobjective Maximum Expected Utility paradigm based on the combination of vector utilities and non-linear action–selection can overcome many of the issues which limit MEU’s effectiveness in implementing aligned AI. We examine existing approaches to multiobjective AI, and identify how these can contribute to the development of human-aligned intelligent agents. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
Resolving ethical challenges when researching with minority and vulnerable populations : LGBTIQ victims of violence, harassment and bullying
- Authors: Roffee, James , Waling, Andrea
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Research Ethics Vol. 13, no. 1 (2017), p. 4-22
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- Description: This article provides an analysis of the issues and ethical challenges faced in a study with LGBTIQ student participants concerning their experiences of violence, harassment and bullying in tertiary settings. The authors detail the ethical challenges behind the development of the project, and around conducting research with a minority and vulnerable population. The article illustrates how the utilization of feminist and queer theory has impacted the process of conducting ethical research, including approaches to recruitment and participant autonomy. The dilemmas of confidentiality within a self-labelled and easily identifiable population are resolved. Further, unexpected challenges and risks to participant safety created through adherence to institutional ethical research frameworks are rectified. Importantly, the authors seek to avoid revictimization of participants and to instead empower students in their responses to violence, harassment and bullying that they may have experienced. The authors point to utilization of theoretical foundations and continual reflexive improvement as elements of best practice for those seeking to research minority populations, and in projects marked by the participation of those deemed vulnerable and high-risk. © 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.
Implied consent and nursing practice : Ethical or convenient?
- Authors: Cole, Clare
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Nursing Ethics Vol. 19, no. 4 (2012), p. 550-557
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- Description: Nursing professionals in a variety of practice settings routinely use implied consent. This form of consent is used in place of or in conjunction with informed or explicit consent. This article looks at one aspect of a qualitative exploratory study conducted in a Day of Surgery Admission unit. This article focuses on the examination of nurses' understandings of implied consent and its use in patient care in nursing practice. Data were collected through one-on-one interviews and analysed using a thematic analysis. Nurses participating in this study revealed that they routinely used implied consent in their nursing practice. This article will look at whether implied consent supports or impedes a patient's autonomy. © The Author(s) 2012.
Making a difference with a discrete course on accounting ethics
- Authors: Dellaportas, Steven
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Business Ethics Vol. 65, no. 4 (2006), p. 391-404
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- Description: Calls for the expansion of ethics education in the business and accounting curricula have resulted in a variety of interventions including additional material on ethical cases, the code of conduct, and the development of new courses devoted to ethical development [Lampe, J.: 1996]. The issue of whether ethics should be taught has been addressed by many authors [see for example: Hanson, K. O.: 1987; Huss, H. F. and D. M. Patterson: 1993; Jones, T. M.: 1988-1989; Kerr, D. S. and L. M. Smith: 1995; Loeb, S. E.: 1988; McDonald, G. M. and G. D. Donleavy: 1995]. The question addressed in this paper is not whether ethics should be taught but whether accounting students can reason more ethically after an intervention based on a discrete and dedicated course on accounting ethics. The findings in this paper indicate that a discrete intervention emphasising dilemma discussion has a positive and significant effect on students' moral reasoning and development. The data collected from interviews suggest that the salient influences on moral judgement development include: learning theories of ethics particularly Kohlberg's theory of cognitive moral reasoning and development; peer learning; and moral discourse. The implications from the findings in this study suggest that moral reasoning is responsive to particular types of ethics intervention and educators should carefully plan their attempts to foster moral judgement development. © Springer 2006.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001773
Ethics of the war on Iraq
- Authors: Mummery, Jane
- Date: 2004
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: New Zealand Humanist Vol. 154, no. (2004), p. 16-18
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