The Ethical Implications of AI

New headlines every day highlight how artificial intelligence (AI) will change our lives, however this is not just a hypothetical future problem. AI is already impacting how we live, work and learn.* At the core of any discussion on the rise of machine learning should be ethical considerations.

To that end, Seattle University will host, Will Intelligent Machines Prepare the Next Workforce? on Thursday, June 22, which will bring together leaders in tech, academics and other innovative minds working through these complex issues. The conference, the first of its kind at Seattle University, will explore the role of AI in preparing workers for short- and long-term success, the implications for the shifting educational landscape and the potential impact of intelligent machines on tomorrow’s workforce. 

“Big changes happen slowly, then all at once. After many boom-and-bust cycles, real AI has arrived,” says Blaise Aguera ya Arcas, vice president and fellow at Google Research, and one of the conference presenters. “It’s time to engage in thoughtful conversation about the politics, economy, ecology and ethics of a planetary future full of social intelligence at every scale.”

Aguera ya Arcas will be joined by Father Paolo Benanti, Rome Call for AI Ethics Advisor to Pope Francis and professor at Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, and Lori Lewis, operations leader of the Technology Trust Ethics (TTE) team at Deloitte. 

Daniel Kluttz, director of Sensitive Uses in the Office of Responsible AI at Microsoft, will moderate a roundtable with the three presenters. 

“Ethical development of artificial intelligence must be approached from an interfaith perspective. The potential of an interfaith event lies in the impact this message communicates,” says Fr. Benanti. “In the face of the radical transformations that digital and intelligent technologies are producing in society, the three Abrahamic religions together can provide guidance for humanity’s search for meaning in this new era.”

Seattle University as a Jesuit and Catholic institution is uniquely positioned to convene a conversation on these rapidly evolving topics.

As President Eduardo Peñalver and Amit Shukla, PhD, dean of the College of Science and Engineering said in a recent piece in the Puget Sound Business Journal, "As a university in the Jesuit tradition, we believe that effective learning is always situated in a specific context—rooted in previous experience and dependent upon reflection about those experiences. Education becomes most meaningful when it is put into action and reinforced by further reflection. Repeating this cycle over and over again is how transformative learning happens. It is remarkable that some of these same traits of the Jesuit educational model are shared by the reinforcement learning methods used for artificial intelligence."

“This technology will continue to advance and applications of AI will exponentially transform human productivity. It is our duty to ensure this technology enhances our humanity,” says Dean Shukla. “This conference is a timely attempt to engage in this conversation around education, technology and ethics so we can prepare the future workforce. I believe Seattle University’s mission uniquely enables this dialogue and am looking forward to this seminal conference.”

Learn more about Seattle University’s Ethics and Technology Conference.

*This article was written by a human.