Artificial intelligence, explanations, trust, responsibility, and justice

There have been several challenges to our view of our position and purpose as human beings. The scientist Charles Darwin’s research demonstrated evolutionary links between man and other animals. Psychoanalysis founder Sigmund Freud illuminated the power of the subconscious. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have challenged our identity as the species with the greatest ability to think. Whether machines can now ‘think’ is no longer interesting. What is important is to critically consider the degree to which they are called upon to make decisions and act in significant and often life-critical situations. We have already discussed the increasing roles of AI in intelligent tutoring, medicine, news stories and fake news, autonomous weapons, smart cars, and automation. Chapter 11 focuses on other ways in which our lives are changing because of advances in AI, and the accompanying opportunities and risks. AI has seen a paradigm shift since the year 2000. Prior to this, the focus was on knowledge representation and the modelling of human expertise in particular domains, in order to develop expert systems that could solve problems and carry out rudimentary tasks. Now, the focus is on the neural networks capable of machine learning (ML). The most successful approach is deep learning, whereby complex hierarchical assemblies of processing elements ‘learn’ using millions of samples of training data. They can then often make correct decisions in new situations. We shall also present a radical, and for most of us a scary, concept of AI with no limits—the technological singularity or superintelligence. Even though superintelligence is for now sciencefiction, humanity is asking if there is any limit to machine intelligence. We shall therefore discuss the social and ethical consequences of widespread use of ML algorithms. It is helpful in this analysis to better understand what intelligence is, so we present two insightful formulations of the concept developed by renowned psychologists.

Law and order, war and peace

Most computers during the Second World War, such as the British code-breaking Colussus machine, had been developed for military use. The effects on law and order and war and peace of computerization, worldwide telecommunications, social media, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics is the topic of Chapter 6. As in Chapter 5, the most compelling visions of the potential opportunities and dangers have been in science fiction and in film; we begin the chapter by reviewing some memorable examples. We then discuss how technology is used by the police, such as the use of video evidence to sometimes exonerate the police against false accusations of needless brutality. We also examine how citizens are using social media to protect themselves and alert others to what they believe is unwarranted violence or unjust actions by law enforcement. We expand upon Section 5.7’s discussion of citizen mobilization by social media with the goal of regime change. In this context, we discuss how the government (especially police and security services) gains leverage via the surveillance of the digital information and communications of citizens. This surveillance has significantly increased due to security concerns post-9/11. We will examine these developments in the USA, Canada, and the UK, as well as in other parts of the world. We shall also discuss cases of organizations trying to subvert societies that repress and forbid access to the internet, with the goal of enabling its citizens to access the internet freely. Next, we consider ways in which tools of digital disruption are used by a country or government or a set of individuals against others. The timely and current case study explored is on governmental use of hacking and other aggressive digital means to interfere with the electoral processes of another country, or even to disrupt or destabilize the other country. At the extreme, governments engage in cyberterrorism or even cyberwar­fare. We shall discuss several recent examples of this and argue that weapons of cyberwar­fare could be as catastrophic as nuclear or biological weapons. The technology of warfare has also evolved.

Computers in medicine and health care

As with the chapter on learning, we begin our discussion of health applications by examining influential early visions of the possible role of computers in improving health care and medicine. We then look at the great variety of roles played by current digital technologies in this field. We first consider the online availability of health information. There are two possible sources: one from respected centres of expertise, the other from consumers of medical care, that is, patients, who in working together form what may be viewed as communities of care. There is strong evidence that people are using these online medical resources to become more intelligent guardians of their own health and to support themselves when seeking help from physicians. Next, we examine the care improvements promised by personal health and electronic medical records. Progress here has been disappointingly slow; we shall discuss the mix of technical, cultural, administrative, interpersonal, and financial reasons for the sluggishness in development and deployment. Two particularly interesting cases of medical information are data dealing with adverse drug reactions and interactions, commonly known as adverse drug events (ADEs), and the use of big data and social media in epidemic surveillance and control, by which we are becoming better equipped to indicate, predict, and track outbreaks of disease. Computers have made a huge impact on medical education through the development of human body simulators. There also continue to be more and more advanced uses of technology embedded within the human body, either to augment the functioning of organs or to replace body parts that no longer work, which could possibly result in bionic people or androids in the future. We shall present some examples indicating the pace at which these technologies are developing. Recent advances in understanding the human genome have enabled a new form of medicine called precision medicine. The goal is to use genetic screening of patients to enable more specific treatments than were hitherto possible. Precision medicine also enables what some call designer babies. We shall introduce policy and ethical issues raised by this concept.

Digital inclusion

J. C. R. Licklider, Vannevar Bush, Doug Engelbart, Ted Nelson, and Alan Kay optimistically and exuberantly imagined how computers could better the lives of people. Much of this has come to pass. The Internet supports learning by ‘students’ at all levels. Information on laws, procedures, diseases, and medical care may be found on the web. The Internet now provides the easiest, or in some cases the only, way to pay bills or order items such as books, groceries, and even clothing. It is a means of communication with family, friends, individuals one would like to meet, individuals with whom one could share insights, and potential employers. Music, films, and other means of entertainment stream to our digital devices. This implies that those for whom digital technology is not available are at a disadvantage. The gap between the technology-haves and the technology-have-nots became known in the 1990s as a digital divide. The concept is nuanced; we can speak of availability or scarcity of hardware, such as personal computers (PCs) and mobile phones; of infrastructure such as cellular networks; of communications bandwidth that enables a smooth media viewing experience; of expertise in using the technology; of commitment to its use; and of engagement in the process. Some only consume information; others contribute their ideas via methods such as blogging and tweeting. Yet a better way to describe digital technology widely accessible is the goal of social inclusion, to allow all individuals, regardless of socioeconomic status, location, race, gender, or ability or disability, to take advantage of the benefits of modern computing and telecommunications. To have terminology that is even more evocative, we shall use the more modern and descriptive term of digital inclusion. This has been defined by the International Telecommunications Union as ‘empowering people through information and communication technologies (ICTs)’. The term ‘people’ is meant here to imply all people throughout the world. This chapter will first examine the digital divide between the haves and the have-nots (often the rich and the poor) within several nations. Examples of the benefits of digital inclusion will be cited.

Lifestyle

The widespread digitization of technologies, materials, and processes, and the constant use of the internet for communication and consumption, have led to dramatic changes in our lifestyle. We begin Chapter 12 with the internet and social media’s enabling people to better connect with family, friends, acquaintances, and communities. There can be more mutual awareness and closeness. Yet we may never be able to ‘unplug’; the line between work and play can become increasingly blurred. Having no down time is one manifestation of a broader corrosive phenomenon—technology or social media addiction. We shall see how a battle is being waged between those who want to engage us with more seductive user experiences, and those who would counsel a saner life in which technology and media play a more modest role. We then move from electronic communications to the physical world. We shall consider the effect of ubiquitous digital media, especially the so-called Internet of Things, in which almost all objects become digital. Such objects can sense people near them and general aspects of the world. They behave based on what they sense. One form of this is the rapid integration of voice assistants in everyday objects such as speakers and lamps. People can also transcend the real world by moving into virtual worlds, via augmented reality and virtual reality. The former allows the world to be enhanced with computer-generated visuals and sounds, while the latter allows immersion into worlds that are totally synthetic. We look at how people meet one another nowadays, and the increasingly important role of internet dating. For those who find intimacy or romance with people too challenging or insufficiently satisfying, and as robots become more and more lifelike, there are new opportunities for intimacy and for sexual satisfaction using sex robots, a development in which there are passionate advocates on both sides. How we do financial transactions is also changing. Cash is disappearing; money is becoming increasingly digital and intangible. Investors speculate in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, which are implemented with an ingenious secure networked digital ledger known as blockchain.

Automation, work, and jobs

The effect of automation on employment and jobs has engaged thoughtful computer scientists and economists since the earliest days of computing. Yet there have been concerns about the effects of technology on employment since ancient times, and notably during the First Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century by a group of workers known as the ‘Luddites’. Our first topic is the role of algorithms in enabling more efficient processing of job applicants and the selection of candidates to interview. This now includes the automatic filtering out of huge numbers of résumés that are never seen by human resource professionals. Next, we look at how technology is used in monitoring job performance, with the goal of encouraging or requiring enhanced performance. Oftentimes, these practices have the opposite effect, as it makes workers feel like ‘Big Brother’ is watching. Companies have long used contractors to provide flexibility in the availability of workers as well as to circumvent costs such as medical benefits and liabilities such as severance pay. This practice has recently changed dramatically: internet communication can now rapidly link seekers of services to providers of the services. This is typically called the gig economy or sharing economy, yet a better name is on-demand services. We shall then examine areas where automation threatens to replace human workers with machines. Fear is rampant, as typified by a 2017 New York Times article, ‘Will Robots Take Our Children’s Jobs?’ Between 2014 and 2016, future prospects were analysed in five scholarly books. We examine the phenomenon of unemployment by looking at specific areas: agriculture, manufacturing, service industries, and the professions. We highlight how new robotic technology, incorporating sensing, reasoning, and manipulating abilities, is enabling significant automation. Of particular importance is the extent to which new machine learning systems are enabling the automation of thinking and reasoning, which were previously considered infeasible for machines. Arguably the most interesting, challenging, and risky application is that of automatic diagnosis of disease, and, more speculatively, robot doctors.

Safety

Safety is often confused with security. A system or an environment may be secure, but if its normal operation does not achieve the intended goals, it may not be safe. Events will not progress as intended, and could go horribly wrong, even to the extent of grave injuries and loss of life. The more society relies upon digital technologies, the more we count on software to assure our safety. The issue of safety arises in a great variety of circumstances. Our discussion will start with dangers to the individual, then we will widen our focus to the organization, to society, and, finally, to the world. The digital divide that discourages internet use among older adults is due in part to threats posed to safe use of computers by ‘evil’ software such as programs that ‘phish’ for personal information, thereby gaining access to finances and committing identity theft, as we have discussed in the previous chapter. We shall enlarge upon this discussion by speaking of another risk—computer rage, which is caused by frustration when users cannot understand or manage the technology. Such instances are especially dangerous for senior citizens. We shall also discuss two ways in which the internet may not be safe for younger people: cyberbullying and revenge porn. We then examine a topic that arises in daily life: safety threats caused to pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers by the continual use of distracting mobile devices. Our inability to control the costs of large-scale data processing implementations is a threat to the safety and health of organizations and governments, as is our inability to understand, modify, and fix large software systems that are no longer maintained by their creators. We shall describe several software disasters, both during their development and after they have been deployed and used. These include the software crisis at the turn of the century—the Y2K threat—which actually was averted, and several cases in which up to billions of dollars or pounds were wasted, including the decades-long saga of air traffic control in the USA.

Privacy

Fears about loss of privacy in computerized societies have been central to dystopian literature. The issue has also concerned thoughtful computer scientists and lawyers since the 1960s. By then, the scope of the computer revolution was making clear that governments and corporations could keep records about almost every aspect of our lives. As data storage became virtually limitless at trivial cost, effective uses of data grew, as did risks to personal privacy. We shall define privacy, look at its manifestations and roles, and discuss current and future threats to it. We shall introduce concepts that are key to understanding privacy, such as informed consent. A major concern is the threats to information privacy or data privacy, in which a person’s confidential information has errors or becomes exposed to people who should not be able to see or use it. We shall examine situations in which privacy can be invaded by governments, organizations, and individuals. Governments amass vast stores of personal data during the everyday course of administration and regulation. Government surveillance in many nations captures information that should be private, a topic we discussed in Chapter 6. Search engines, credit rating organizations, and insurance companies also gather huge amounts of data on consumers. When data is incorrect, or is hacked, there are serious implications for information privacy. Criminals seek to gain leverage by ferreting out computer-based data about personal financial transactions. Health information is a particularly sensitive area in which many people feel especially vulnerable. These are all ‘classical’ privacy concerns, the dangers of which were evident in the 1960s. New technologies have raised more concerns. Social media holds vast quantities of personal data that we have willingly disclosed, including information that could prove embarrassing later in life. A vivid example of a privacy breech was the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal of 2018. New technologies raise new privacy concerns. Chips use GPS to track our location and movements. Recent advances in computer vision and the widespread deployment of video cameras enable face recognition. Chips located in the environment and embedded as sensors and prostheses in our bodies make our activities and even our moods accessible by others.

Free speech, politics, and government

Politics and government are undergoing dramatic changes through the advent of new technology. The early developers of community networks (mentioned in Section 1.2) had hopeful visions of information technology (IT)-facilitating participatory democracy. Yet the most memorable visions have been literary dystopias, where surveillance is omnipresent and governments have absolute control. We shall begin by highlighting some of these important writings. We shall then consider a current and present topic—the cultural and legal frameworks governing free speech and other forms of expression on the internet. We review several kinds of ‘undesirable’ speech that test our commitment to free speech—messages that are viewed as obscene, hateful, seditious, or encouraging of terrorism. Next, we examine methods governments worldwide use to censor web content and prevent digital transmission of messages of which they disapprove, as well as a similar role for social media firms in what is now known as content moderation. We shall also mention one new form of rampant and very harmful internet speech— fake news. Fake news becomes especially troubling when it is released into and retransmitted widely into filter bubbles that select these messages and echo chambers that focus and sensationalize such points of view to the exclusion of other contradictory ideas. The prevalence and dangers of fake news became obvious during post facto analyses of the 2016 US presidential campaign. The internet and social media enable greater civic participation, which is usually called e-democracy or civic tech. Most such uses of social media are relatively benign, as in online deliberations about the desired size of a bond issue, or internet lobbying to get libraries to stay open longer during the summer. However, for more significant issues, such as violations of fundamental human rights, or unpopular political decisions that incite public unrest, social media communications may facilitate political protest that can lead to political change. IT also plays a role in elections—social media can be used to mobilize the electorate and build enthusiasm for a candidate. Correspondingly, surveys and big data are used to target potential voters during political campaigns and to tailor specific messages to key voters.

Digital media and intellectual property

Vannevar Bush envisioned a machine that would assist humanity in the creative work of writing. Doug Engelbart imagined the collaborative sharing and enhancement of knowledge. Digital media today—text, drawings, photos, audio, and video—surpass the visions of their pioneers. These media may be copied, shared, and modified in ways that challenge the legal system, because unrestricted content sharing without suitable payment to creators runs counter to intellectual property (IP) traditions and laws. Writers, musicians, artists, and inventors have long relied upon IP protection to enable them to control the use of their creations and inventions. Copyright infringement, that is, copying in violation of copyright, threatens the income that they could receive from their creations. The concept of fair use is a critical issue in such discussions, as it allows certain exceptions to copyright. One area that has received a great deal of attention is the digital copying and sharing of music; we shall examine the interplay between conventional behaviour, ethics, technical interventions to limit or block copying, laws and legal battles, and product and pricing innovation. Next, we shall look at similar issues in the domain of motion pictures. There are effective and legal streaming services, yet there are still concerns about copyright infringement. Copyright holders now automatically produce takedown notices to insist that websites remove illegally or improperly sourced material. Such notices include many errors, causing additional complications for video creators. One interesting challenge to the concept and laws of copyright occurs in the creation of mash-ups. Artists use fragments from existing musical or visual performances as well as their own material to create audio-visual works that combine multiple content sources. Artists, lawyers, and businesspeople debate the extent to which such mash-ups violate reasonable copyright protection. Copyright is also significant for academic articles and textbooks. There are two especially interesting cases to discuss. One is the widespread copying of textbooks by students due to the high price of texts. The other is the fair pricing of the publication of research results that have been funded by government grants. This issue has provided one of several stimuli to the creation of open access publications.