Pengpai News reporter Zhou De Shao Wen

In recent years, the artificial intelligence (AI) industry has developed rapidly, and its ethical and governance issues have also attracted much attention from all walks of life. How to understand the ethics of artificial intelligence in different cultural contexts? What kind of AI governance cognitive logic and framework paradigm should be built? How should artificial intelligence ethics move from theory and concept to practice?

"New technologies often bring impacts to existing social ethical norms, and artificial intelligence technology is no exception. This is a problem that human society always faces in the process of progress." On June 1, Director of the National New Generation Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional Committee, the National New Generation Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional Committee , Xue Lan, senior professor of liberal arts at Tsinghua University and dean of the Institute of International Governance of Artificial Intelligence, said at the 2022 Beijing Zhiyuan Conference Artificial Intelligence Ethics, Governance and Sustainable Development Forum.

Xue Lan proposed that it is necessary to build a communication and exchange platform to solve information asymmetry, and to seek common ground while reserving differences on this basis, find a solution mechanism that conforms to the entire social development process. At the same time, it is necessary to set up an update mechanism for the update and iteration of technology and concepts.

In recent years, my country has successively issued policy documents such as "Principles for the Governance of the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence" and "Ethical Norms for the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence", which clearly put forward eight principles and emphasized the integration of ethics and morality into the entire life cycle of artificial intelligence. Zhao Zhiyun, Party Secretary of the China Institute of Science and Technology Information, Director and Director of the Research Center for the Development of the New Generation Artificial Intelligence of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said that the Artificial Intelligence Branch of the National Science and Technology Ethics Committee is studying and drafting a high-risk list of artificial intelligence ethics to better Promote the ethical supervision of artificial intelligence scientific research activities.

Security and legal issues are the bottom line and should not be generalized and included in the scope of ethical governance.

According to incomplete statistics, more than 100 documents related to the ethical governance of artificial intelligence have been released around the world, and governments, international organizations, academics and industries in various countries are highly concerned about the ethical governance of artificial intelligence.

"Governance and development should not be opposed, but should better escort the development of artificial intelligence through governance and strive to achieve a balance between high-quality development of artificial intelligence and high-level governance." Zhao Zhiyun said that ethical governance is good at artificial intelligence activities. Guidance is an important guarantee for the healthy development of artificial intelligence.

Zhao Zhiyun said that there are three key requirements for promoting the ethical governance of artificial intelligence, namely, grasp the laws and characteristics of artificial intelligence development, clarify the actual ethical issues; grasp the boundaries of the ethical governance of artificial intelligence, and standardize the development of artificial intelligence within an appropriate range; grasp the good The balanced relationship between development and governance, and use governance to promote development.

She pointed out that the current artificial intelligence technology has not yet reached the level of strong artificial intelligence and general artificial intelligence, so future ethical risks cannot be regarded as real risks, so as not to have unnecessary negative impacts on the development of artificial intelligence. In addition, the bottom line requirements of artificial intelligence governance must be clarified. Ethical governance emphasizes the higher demand for promoting the unity of innovation and risk prevention. Security and legal issues, as bottom lines that cannot be overcome, should not be generalized and included in the scope of ethical governance. .

Build an artificial intelligence evaluation platform (system) to help artificial intelligence governance be implemented

Speaking of the social attributes of the development and application of artificial intelligence technology, Li Renhan, member of the National New Generation Artificial Intelligence Governance Professional Committee and chief consultant professor of the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute of Shanghai Jiaotong University, attributed it to three aspects: security issues, ethical issues, and mutation security question.

Security issues mainly include national security, social security, economic security, personal security, etc. Ethical issues mainly include privacy, fairness, transparency, discrimination, employment and other fields. These two types of security issues have occurred. As for mutation security, that is, artificial intelligence may be uncontrollable and harm to society and humans, it has not yet occurred and is an unconventional problem.

Li Renhan said that artificial intelligence is a technology that simulates human cognitive abilities through machines, and its requirements also need to be as good as those for humans in order to live in harmony. For the governance of standardized artificial intelligence. We should start from standards, rules, laws, supervision, law enforcement and other aspects.

At present, the formulation of artificial intelligence standards by relevant international organizations has entered a boom period, and the international artificial intelligence governance work permit is accelerated to be operational. In this regard, Li Renhan believes that it is urgent to establish a corresponding rule system at present, which on the one hand promotes the sustainable and healthy development of AI, and on the other hand, it is conducive to keeping pace with the international community and achieving global development. At the same time, we must also build an artificial intelligence evaluation platform (system) to help artificial intelligence governance be implemented.

Li Renhan said that the artificial intelligence evaluation platform (system) will become one of the important infrastructures for future social development and is the basic guarantee for the artificial intelligence industry to empower the sustainable and healthy development of all walks of life. The platform (system) will also be an important stage for the cultivation, growth and role of relevant talents and an important basis for participating in the formulation of international rules. Therefore, we must plan as soon as possible and implement the evaluation platform (system) as soon as possible in the form of a "three-step" strategy. .

Integrate ethics into the entire life cycle of artificial intelligence

In recent years, ethical controversy has been increasingly frequent due to the application of AI technology: American research institutions have published papers saying that AI has designed self-produced biological robots; in 2019, Amazon and other companies used AI monitoring systems to

Employees are assessed and fired; and the increasingly popular application of facial recognition technology has also caused widespread attention in the society to issues such as personal information security.

Regarding the issue of artificial intelligence governance, Xue Lan believes that it is necessary to consider the direct and indirect benefits and costs brought to the economic and social operation by the application of artificial intelligence technology, and weigh the pros and cons. We must consider the impact of the application of artificial intelligence technology on various social codes of conduct, and also consider the long-term economic and social impact of the application of artificial intelligence technology.

Xue Lan suggested that it is necessary to improve the governance system of artificial intelligence ethics and security; promote the implementation of laws, regulations, standards and specifications; establish a dialogue mechanism with multiple subjects to participate, track the forefront of technological development, and discover new security and ethical issues; establish the forefront of artificial intelligence. Ethical evaluation, early warning and control mechanism for research and application; strengthen ethical education for artificial intelligence research and application of various relevant interest groups, and improve ethical awareness; actively cultivate healthy intelligent culture and digital humanistic ideas; strengthen scientific communication of cutting-edge progress in artificial intelligence and popularize ethics to improve public awareness.

"Ethics must be integrated into the entire life cycle of artificial intelligence, provide ethical guidance for natural persons, legal persons and other relevant institutions engaged in artificial intelligence-related activities, and promote the development of artificial intelligence." Xue Lan said.

Speaking of integrating ethics into the entire life cycle of artificial intelligence, Zhao Zhiyun said that the government’s responsibility is to guide all kinds of subjects to pay attention to ethical norms and embed operations, and to fully reflect the concept of the entire life cycle. She gave an example that in 2019, the Ministry of Science and Technology approved 18 cities to pilot pilot zones for the new generation of artificial intelligence innovation and development. An indispensable link in the construction of the pilot zone is to conduct ethical governance normative tests. In each experimental zone plan, There are corresponding operating specifications for ethical norms for how various entities implement them.

Artificial Intelligence Innovation Model and Social Governance Model

What are the essential differences between ethical issues in the field of artificial intelligence and ethical issues in other fields? What requirements does this difference put forward for the paradigm of ethical governance of artificial intelligence?

In this regard, Chen Xiaoping, director of the Robotics Laboratory of the University of Science and Technology of China, director of the CAAI Artificial Intelligence Ethical Governance Working Committee, and executive member of the Global Artificial Intelligence Council, said that the most fundamental difference is the technology itself. In the past, automation technology could only replace part of human labor, but now artificial intelligence, even if it is only dedicated artificial intelligence, far surpasses and replaces humans in the dedicated field. Some philosophers predict that except for those who do artificial intelligence and those who make decisions, 97% of other industry practitioners will be replaced. The fundamental reason is technology.

When talking about the differences with other industry ethics, Chen Xiaoping put forward three views.

The first is the issue of controllability. If general artificial intelligence and strong artificial intelligence are realized in the future, perhaps all industry fields can be replaced by artificial intelligence. Chen Xiaoping said that although it is unlikely at present, it cannot be ruled out in theory. Once artificial intelligence has universal capabilities, it may be able to achieve survival that does not depend on humans, and this must be taken seriously.

The second is the challenge of artificial intelligence to innovative models. Previously, human technology was not strong enough to challenge innovation models, and now even dedicated artificial intelligence has profoundly changed the innovation models.

The third is to enter the new era of technology and the integration of artificial intelligence and social governance. As artificial intelligence technology becomes more and more widely used, human society has entered an essentially new era. The traditional social governance model is no longer completely effective, and a new social governance model must be developed.