Description

By Francien Dechesne

In the years since the publication of this volume, the field of ethics of technology has become central to public debate. A prominent example is the debate around the development and application of artificial intelligence (AI). In June 2018, the European Commission installed a high-level expert group (HLEG) of representatives from academia, civil society and industry to include ethical considerations in the implementation of the European strategy on AI. The HLEG published Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI in April 2019. The process and its outcome have been both an inspiration and a source of fierce debate over the most effective way to deal with ethical issues raised in the development, application and broad societal entrenchment of (emerging?) technologies (see Metzinger, 2019; Metcalf, Moss and Boyd, 2019; Bietti, 2020). The ethics of technology has become a topic high on the agenda of national governments, transnational institutions such as the EU and the United Nations (2020), and professional standards organizations (IEEE, 2020). Big technology companies, such as Google and Facebook, have installed oversight boards.1 Growing public awareness and concern about how technology impacts and interferes with our interpersonal relations and societal institutions has led to growing demand for experts who can interpret and anticipate the ethical issues around the development and use of technology.

page: 296 – 298
Prometheus: Critical Studies in Innovation
Volume 36, Issue 3
SKU: 360309