ETHICAL CHALLENGES POSED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been implemented and is delivering on its promise at least at large companies including Facebook, Google, and Netflix. Retailers are using AI-powered robots in their warehouses, Utilities use AI to forecast electricity demand,

• Automakers are using AI for autonomous cars, and Financial Services companies are using AI to better understand their customers, look for potential fraud, and to identify new products/services customers will want. 

• By using artificial intelligence, a company can drastically cut down on relying on the human workforce, and this means that revenues will go to fewer people. 

However boundless cope of AI technology poses several ethical challenges:-

• Humans have attributes that AI systems might not be able to authentically possess, such as compassion. AI currently is unable to replicate, such as contexual knowledge and the ability to read social cues.

Reliability and safety

• AI could make errors and, if an error is difficult to detect or has knock-on effects, this could have serious implications.

Transparency and accountability 

• It can be difficult or impossible to determine the underlying logic that generates the outputs produced by AI.

• Machine learning technologies can be particularly opaque because of the way they continuously tweak their own parameters and rules as they learn. This creates problems for validating the outputs of AI systems, and identifying errors or biases in the data.

Data bias, fairness, and equity 

• Although AI applications have the potential to reduce human bias and error, they can also reflect and reinforce biases in the data used to train them.

• Concerns have been raised about the potential of AI to lead to discrimination in ways that may be hidden or which may not align with legally protected characteristics, such as gender, ethnicity, disability, and age.

Effects on patients 

• Concerns have been raised about a loss of human contact and increased social isolation if AI technologies are used to replace staff or family time with patients. 

Effects on healthcare professionals

• Healthcare professionals may feel that their autonomy and authority is threatened if their expertise is challenged by AI.

• The ethical obligations of healthcare professionals towards individual patients might be affected by the use of AI decision support systems

Malicious use of AI

• While AI has the potential to be used for good, it could also be used for malicious purposes. For example, there are fears that AI could be used for covert surveillance or screening.

• The question of who is responsible when AI is used to support decision-making; difficulties in validating the outputs of AI systems, securing public trust in the development and use of AI technologies etc are other ethical issues.