Explained: Ethical Considerations in AI Development and Their Necessity

When AI became a mainstream subject we were instantly hooked. So awed by its prowess and capabilities that we stopped thinking about its repercussions. We turned a blind eye to the ethics of this super-tech and eulogized its existence. It's time to be responsible. Whether you are a consumer, AI enthusiast, or an expert in AI development, incorporating ethics into your daily life is the way forward. It’s not just the right way for AI as a technology to advance, It is an essential step. A step towards progress rather than perfection maybe.

What are AI Ethics?

AI ethics are a certain set of principles. Safety, security, humane centric, and environment-friendly solutions are the pillars on which these ethics are developed. Primarily the ethics concern themselves with three major orders. 

• The AI solutions should avoid Bias. 
• It must ensure the safety and security of users as well as their data. 
• Any solution involving AI cannot escalate the environmental risks.

The AI ethics in the process of discussion are not mere rules imposed by just a single body. Many entities are involved when it comes to the formation of these ethics. Through these ethics, the entities are trying to foster harmony between Machines and humans in AI development. The entities involved in the process are listed under the mentioned five categories.

1. Government entities: They provide regulations and also set up regulatory frameworks overseeing the operations involving AI. Such entities are responsible for ruling out any disobedience caused by unethical practices. Their regulations also govern the actions of private companies venturing into artificial intelligence development services. The ethics derived by these entities are mentioned in their report, for example, Artificial Intelligence in India or RESPONSIBLE AI #AIFORALL. 

2. Inter-governmental entities: They are responsible for drafting legal agreements and deriving treaties at the geopolitical level. Moreover, the entities also conduct awareness campaigns and keep the world updated about AI developments. Both the documentation and campaigns revolve around the ethical use of AI and its development too for example Ethics of AI by UNESCO.

3. Academics: Both the treaties introduced by IGOs and documents drafted by Gov. authorities are backed by academic institutions. Through administering careful considerations, calculations, and research based data academics support the cause of AI ethics. 

4. Non-profit organizations:  A nonprofit organization eliminates the possibility of biases in AI systems. They explore order and unbiased justice in the applications of AI for common individuals. One such AI NGO in India is Wadhwani AI, exploring artificial intelligence ethics through the concept of AI for social impact. 

5. Private companies: Every top AI development company is considered an equal contributor in the formation of ethics and regulation too. Their beliefs when it comes to designing ethical and fair systems must resonate justly with the ethics and regulations.

Every ethics and code of conduct is shared among these entities. Artificial intelligence ethics are to be created, regulated, and executed by the contribution of every entity mentioned above. Since the introduction of AI, they were able to prepare their sets of principles which benefit everyone equivalently. Some might have additional clauses and a set of instructions, but the foundational principle aims for a shared goal.

The Key Principle responsible for AI ethics

The shared goals are known as key principles responsible for creating ethics in AI development. Please note the principles we are going to mention below work as foundational principles. Looking at how fast the technology is evolving, the legitimacy of this principle is yet to be administered under proper guidance. But they sure make great pillars of fabrication. 

• Transparency: The solutions and systems developed with AI or for AI should practice transparency. Here the ethics talk about the operation and decision making process. The core idea is to maintain trust and reliability. They must be understandable and accessible to every user and stakeholder. 
• Accountability: Every decision making system has impacts and setbacks. The AI development experts must take responsibility for their solution and its impact. Core idea is to allow experts to explore the development of pre-defined legal boundaries. This is to negate the negative consequences that may give rise to critical damages. 
• Fairness: The algorithms are built, written, and derived using massive amounts of data. Hence no biases should be a core principle for AI systems to progress further. The AI system needs to maintain a standard of equality on the basis of gender, age, race, personal character, etc. 
• Data protection: The developed AI systems utilize data as an essential source. And if this data is collected by users it must be protected. A robust data protection act and regulatory framework is established too. A few examples are the Digital Data Protection Act, of 2023 of India, the General Data Protection Regulation of Europe, and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act in America.

Ethical Considerations in AI Development

To understand the ethical considerations in AI development, we have to take a detour for a little while. As on the beyond these simple yet revealing ‘WHY?’ our ‘HOW?’ follows.

Why are AI ethics important in AI development?

Legal ethics are introduced to regulate the use of AI in the open world. Technology is powerful and beneficial can harm. Proper development is important as AI carries enormous amounts of data. The data can belong to users and in the wrong hands, it becomes a tool for malicious intent. 

When it comes to developing an AI solution, All three phases bear a heavy weight of responsibility.  

• The Ideation Phase
• AI Development and Design.
• Post Launch Security. 

Real Life Case - India election 2024

• Every country in the world has its eyes on Indian Election 2024. One of the biggest elections after COVID-19. Each party has their own way of conducting campaigns in various parts of the country. Amidst the chaos, the country also experiences an AI deepfake dawn of challenges. 
• 75% of Indians have viewed election campaign videos or speeches that were generated through deepfake GenAI. The report was presented by a well known cybersecurity company McAfee. Also, 38% of respondents were scammed using deep fake AI-based content.
• The deek fake generated content can implicit harm on others in many ways. It can give rise to cyberbullying, donation scams, spoiling the public image of popular personalities, etc. But when you trace the roots these scams can be traced back to their development. 
• As an AI development company one should take responsibility for their tools and solutions. Either they benefit users or they contribute to such scams, it all depends on the ideology of AI developers. Hence AI ethics are crucial to the learning structure for every AI development company.

Define the Purpose 

• Explanation: When developing an AI system of solution every phase has its fair share of significance. Defining a purpose is a crucial phase too. The objectives, goals, sustainable practices and everything should be established. Understanding the potential benefits and risks of development as well as the end result is a part of defining the purpose. 
• Importance: The design, development, deployment part must begin and conclude with complete transparency. Stakeholders, decision makers, and every entity involved should understand the intention behind solutions. It ensures that the solution aligns with border ethical standards. 
• Practical Implications: Take an example. In food processing plants, AI aims to achieve, sort, categorize best, low, and mid quality food. The clearer our subject of interest will be, the better outcome the development team will achieve. 

Inclusive Design Process 

• Explanation: Let the team involved in the design process belong to various backgrounds. Their ethnicity, cultural values, expertise, and disciplines will have a huge impact on the development phase.  
• Importance: Diversity eliminates the chances of a solution being unbiased, which is an important part of AI ethics. A real life example of this will be when Google's bard started generating biased images against a race.
• Practical Implications: One can form a committee which will specifically oversee the project. Their discussion and decision will revolve around eliminating biases in the system. An example of who can be considered a part of this committee. AI developers, ethicists, sociologists, legal experts, stakeholders, legal representatives, NGO members, etc.

Ethical AI Practices for Development 

• Explanation: The development phase involves numerous processes. Starts with data collection, sorting, algorithm design, model training, testing, deployment, and monitoring. Throughout the whole phase involving ethical AI practices becomes a necessity. These ethical AI practices include standards of fairness, transparency, privacy, and data security measures.  
• Importance: It will be able to promote responsible use of AI solutions. Fosters a trust and reliability bond between stakeholders, artificial intelligence development services providers, experts, enthusiasts, and users. 
• Practical Implications: 
• Implementing Regular Audits
• Ensuring data anonymization
• Fairness constraints during model training
• Agile methodology for development
• Post-deployment feedback loop

Conclusion

So, just look at the whole scenario for a minute. Did you experience a shift in your perspective about Artificial intelligence? Don’t you think we should prioritize AI ethics as a subject of discussion at present? Every solution has great potential, but equally great impact on our development as a society.

Ethical considerations help us to make the right decisions. It becomes a foundation for transforming these impacts into positive rippling waves of innovation. There are enthusiasts looking forward to AI advancement and experts working in an AI development company towards those expected advancements. Both understand the necessity of ethics when it comes to building our society with those advancements.