The difference between artificial intelligence ethics and other technological ethics is that it does not address the relationship between people and the relationship between people and nature, but addresses the relationship between people and the machines they create. This human-like or even superhuman machine has stronger social interactivity and behavioral initiative. Many people have proposed that artificial intelligence should be given legal subject status to regulate it.

Li Huajing/Text

Starting: Artificial intelligence should be inherently good

Machine ethics is not a new topic, and the nature of good has been established from the beginning. In 1942, the American writer Isaac Asimov proposed the Three Laws of Robots with ethical attributes in his short science fiction novel "Ring Dance": First, robots must not harm humans or ignore injured humans; second, robots must obey human orders as long as they do not violate the first law; third, robots must protect themselves as long as they do not violate the first and second laws.

Although these three laws come from science fiction writers nearly 80 years ago, they have always accompanied and profoundly affected the development of artificial intelligence technology. They are like the "Sword of Damocles" hanging in the air, always warning people to prevent artificial intelligence from blooming as beautifully as a poppy flower and then bearing evil consequences.

Although there is no single answer to whether artificial intelligence is good or bad, what is certain is that artificial intelligence should be inherently good. Humanity must do its best to ensure that the development of artificial intelligence is beneficial to humans and the environment. Especially today when artificial intelligence is breaking out again, the inherent goodness of artificial intelligence should be paid attention to and reiterated.

More importantly, artificial intelligence ethics has its complexity and uniqueness. Borrowing Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s judgment, artificial intelligence is an “immortal dictator” created by humans unknowingly. This image reflects the difference between artificial intelligence ethics and other technological ethics: it does not address the relationship between people and the relationship between people and nature, but addresses the relationship between people and the machines they create. This human-like or even superhuman machine has stronger social interactivity and behavioral initiative. Many people have proposed that artificial intelligence should be given legal subject status to regulate it.

Inherited: Difficulties in Artificial Intelligence Ethical Decision-making

How to make artificial intelligence with strong spillover "goose effect" become a good person and do good things is very necessary but also very challenging.

A typical case is the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in April 2019. In order to curb the spread of false news on its website, Google's video service company began to add links to Wikipedia and encyclopedia entries in news videos in 2018. This was originally a "good thing." However, after the Notre Dame Cathedral fire in Paris in April 2019, a live video about the fire was automatically associated with a link to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This means that when netizens browse the live report of the Notre Dame fire, they will be recommended to pay attention to the 9/11 event entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica. This connection immediately aroused strong dissatisfaction among netizens, and was even criticized as confusing and creating conspiracy. This is really a "bad thing."

How to judge "good things" and "bad things" is difficult for both humans and machines.

Therefore, the current ethical decision-making standards for artificial intelligence are difficult to unify, and they should not even be unified. The Ethics Committee of the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure jointly proposed about 20 autonomous driving rules in 2017 with scientists and legal experts. For example: driverless cars should first consider protecting human life, even if doing so will harm animals or damage property; if an accident is inevitable, driverless cars cannot choose who to save, and should not make decisions based on age, gender, race, disability, etc. All human lives are equal. And, they promise to enforce these rules in some way. However, the U.S. Department of Transportation has a different attitude in this regard. For example, it proposes that the guidelines issued every year are voluntary rather than mandatory. It advocates that the first action for artificial intelligence, a new and rapidly developing technology, is to eliminate unnecessary obstacles. Flexible and technology-neutral policies can better ensure and improve safety than prescribing specific technical solutions.

It can be seen from the above that artificial intelligence ethical decision-making is not black and white, either/or. So, who will control this direction? Focus on people.

Transfer: Artificial Intelligence Ethics Diverse Subjects

The ethical subjects of artificial intelligence involve all aspects, and the first one to bear the brunt is the troika that leads the development of artificial intelligence technology - the people behind the algorithm, computing power and calculation materials. How can they avoid making mistakes and drive artificial intelligence to be positive for good? To put it simply, they must achieve algorithmic ethics—brain power for good; computational ethics—heart power for good; computational ethics—power for good. Therefore, the programmers, scientists, engineers and consumers behind artificial intelligence algorithms, computing power, and computing materials are all important subjects that influence the ethics of artificial intelligence, but they cannot be responsible for it alone. To set the direction and rhythm for artificial intelligence ethics, it is necessary to integrate the power of multiple subjects to prevent everyone from going astray. And those who possess and are good at integration are none other than entrepreneurs.

Artificial intelligence entrepreneurs harness teams, opportunities and resources, integrate hard technology and soft ideas, and lead the direction of artificial intelligence ethics. Entrepreneurs can also be caught in a dilemma between pursuing personal interests and adhering to ethical norms. However, entrepreneurs do not choose between the "light zone" or the "dark zone" but "draw the map" through innovation, risk-taking and proactive action. In other words, ethically oriented entrepreneurial actions help integrate the forces of all parties to creatively solve artificial intelligence ethical dilemmas.

Together: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence Entrepreneurship as Good as Water

Speaking of the way to follow goodness, I believe many people will think of Chapter 8 of the Tao Te Ching, "The best is like water." Although "goodness" here does not only mean kindness, the seven virtues summarized by Laozi and which are close to Tao - dwelling is a kind place;

In April 2019, the European Union released the "Ethical Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence" (hereinafter referred to as the EU Guidelines), which lists seven key conditions: human autonomy and supervision, robustness and security of technology, privacy and data governance, transparency (traceability), diversity, non-discrimination and fairness, social and environmental well-being, and accountability.

To this end, we might as well combine the Seven Virtues of the Supreme Good Like Water and the Seven Principles of the European Union with the entrepreneurial ethical actions of Chinese artificial intelligence companies, and extract the similarities between theory and practice, classics and exploration, and the interweaving of the East and the West to explore the direction of action for artificial intelligence entrepreneurial ethics.

Habitat, a good place, the original meaning is to choose a place. The inspiration for artificial intelligence entrepreneurial ethics is that goal positioning should focus on social value. The EU guideline "Social and Environmental Well-Being" also emphasizes that the application of artificial intelligence systems should promote positive social change, enhance sustainability and ecological responsibility.

Heart, Shanyuan, originally means deep-minded. The inspiration for artificial intelligence entrepreneurial ethics is that market development should be towards inclusive innovation. The EU guideline "diversity, non-discrimination and fairness" means that artificial intelligence systems should inclusively consider the overall range of human abilities, skills and requirements to ensure accessibility.

With, kindness, the original meaning is to treat others with kindness. The inspiration for artificial intelligence entrepreneurial ethics is that user services should focus on friendly experience. The EU guideline "Robustness and Safety of Technology" also advocates that artificial intelligence algorithms should be sufficiently robust and reassuring to cope with errors or deviations at the stage of the evolution cycle of artificial intelligence systems.

Yan, good faith, the original meaning is to abide by one's word. The inspiration for artificial intelligence entrepreneurial ethics is that value realization should be based on integrity. The EU guideline "Privacy and Data Governance" means that citizens' data should be fully controlled by themselves, and the application of citizen-related data cannot harm or discriminate against citizens.

Zheng, good governance, the original meaning is good governance. The inspiration for the ethics of artificial intelligence entrepreneurship is that the governance system should strengthen institutional construction.

Things, good abilities, the original intention is to give full play to one's strengths. The inspiration for artificial intelligence entrepreneurial ethics is that technological development should be based on innovation capabilities.

To move, to be good at the moment, the original meaning is to seize the opportunity. The inspiration for artificial intelligence entrepreneurial ethics is that for sustainable growth, entrepreneurial opportunities should be grasped.

Epilogue: Where does the water flow?

The positive effect of ethics on artificial intelligence technology innovation and entrepreneurial development still needs to be deeply explored. Harvard University psychologist Steven Pinker once questioned the positive significance of ethical review on the scientific process. He published an article in the Boston Globe and argued that excessive ethical oversight will interfere with the speed of innovation and will have little positive effect. It can be seen that ethics is not a simple solution to technology, and it cannot be as simple as controlling an on-off valve, but a complex social system engineering.

In particular, the latest developments in the combination of blockchain and artificial intelligence have highlighted the importance and urgency of ethical issues in artificial intelligence entrepreneurship. When artificial intelligence meets blockchain, it will help push data resource management and information technology applications to a higher level, but it will also bring more challenges to public cognition and thinking paradigms, thereby exacerbating ethical conflicts.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about this? Optimists believe that due to the distributed network of blockchain, new technologies such as artificial intelligence can be integrated to form a new governance structure, thereby raising the threshold for "evil". It has broad application prospects in education, employment, elderly care, targeted poverty alleviation, medical health, commodity anti-counterfeiting, food safety, public welfare, social assistance and other livelihood fields. Pessimists point out that applications related to blockchain technology, such as issuing digital currencies and recording data and privacy, have huge potential risks. If you don’t see the issuance of coins, it will become a cut and privacy will still be difficult to protect.

The new force searching for answers is entrepreneurs. In June 2019, a new encrypted digital currency "Libra" was officially released. Immediately afterwards, Ma Huateng commented on WeChat Moments: "The technology is mature and it is not difficult. It just depends on whether the supervision allows it."

But how can we turn the mountains of supervision and the flood of technological innovation into an ecosystem that benefits mankind? How to realize the ethical value of artificial intelligence that "benefits all things without competing for them, and does what everyone dislikes"? It remains to be seen. As Confucius reminded Zigong, "A gentleman must look at the big water when he sees it." We look forward to the full flow of scientific knowledge on artificial intelligence and the healthy development of technological innovation, so that it can benefit society better and faster and benefit the public.

This article is a phased result of Beijing Forestry University’s scientific research-backed talent training postgraduate teaching reform project (No.) and the National Natural Science Foundation project (No.).

About the author | Li Huajing: Professor and doctoral supervisor at Beijing Forestry University. His main research direction is innovation and entrepreneurship management.