Ethics and AI Assignment

Due Wednesday 3/27 11:59pm

In this assignment you will read and reflect on a fictional case study regarding the ethical implications of AI tools. While these cases are fictional, they are inspired by real issues. You may find yourself confronting similar scenerios in your future career, so it’s worth thinking about how to address ethical concerns now!

For your final project report, you will also be asked to discuss what real-world ethical concerns could arise from the types of tools you develop.

Part 1: Form project groups

Form a group of 2-4 students (ideally 3). This will also be your group for the final project. Create your group on Gradescope for the Ethics and AI assignment.

The writeups for this assignment should be done by the group members, however you are welcome (and encouraged) to involve anyone in the discussions!

Part 2: Choose a case study

Here is a quick summary of the six available case studies provided by the Princeton Dialogues on AI and Ethics. Your group should choose one of them, based on the following descriptions.

Case Study 1: Automated Healthcare App

A team of medical researchers and computer scientists develop an app that utilizes artificial intelligence technologies to make diabetic care easier, more holistic and more accessible.

Case Study 2: Dynamic Sound Identification

An R&D company develops an app that can identify information from sound. For example, personal information about those speaking, links to websites selling a product being advertised on television, encyclopedic entries about bird calls in the wild and other relevant resources.

Case Study 3: Optimizing Schools

A public high school contracts a data science company and gives them access to student behavioral data (attendance, purchases, library usage, movement on campus, etc.) so that they can predict which students are at-risk of dropping out.

Case Study 4: Law Enforcement Chatbots

A country’s federal law enforcement agency teams up with University researchers to develop a chatbot that could be used to identify cybercriminals.

Case Study 5: Hiring By Machine

A group of military veterans create a non-profit company that makes software for veterans transitioning back to civilian life. The company strongly believes in open-source and hiring veterans.

Case Study 6: Public Sector Data Analytics

A once-prosperous city contracts with a consulting group to use an algorithmic, data-driven approach to reduce crime.

Part 3: Consider possible issues

Before getting into reading the case study you chose, pause and think about what ethical issues might arise. Below are some common categories of ethical issues, several of which may apply to your chosen case. Choose 3 of these categories and, in the Gradscope assignment, list the categories you chose and explain (in 2-3 sentences) why, based on the case study description, your group felt these issues might be important for the case. (Note that there is not a wrong or right answer to this, just explain your reasoning)

Issues with oversight and accountability

  • Which laws and regulations might be applicable to this project?
  • How is ethical accountability being achieved?

Issues with data privacy and anonymity

  • How might the legal rights of organizations and individuals be impinged by our use of the data?
  • How might individuals’ privacy and anonymity be impinged via aggregation and linking of the data?

Issues with data availability and validity

  • How do you know that the data is ethically available for its intended use?
  • How do you know that the data is valid for its intended use?

Issues with model bias

  • How have we identified and minimized any bias in the data or in the model?
  • How was any potential modeler bias identified and then, if appropriate, mitigated?

Issues with model transparency and interpretation

  • How transparent does the model need to be and how is that transparency achieved?
  • What are likely misinterpretations of the results and what can be done to prevent those misinterpretations?

These issue categories are from Integrating Ethics within Machine Learning Courses | ACM Transactions on Computing Education by J. Saltz et al. 

Part 4: Read and discuss your case study

In the case study you chose, you will find anywhere from three to seven discussion questions. Please read the case study individually, but pause at each discussion question and discuss them as a group. On Gradescope, summarize your group’s discussion for each question in 1-2 paragraphs.

Now read through your chosen case study PDF. (It is okay to choose a new one if you decide you don’t like the one you’ve chosen after you’ve started reading it.)

Each case study PDF includes a “Reflections & Discussion Questions” section near the end. You should read through these individually, and you can optionally choose to discuss them as a group. Note that you do not need to report on your discussions for this part of the case study PDFs.

Once you’ve completed this part you are finished with the Gradescope assignment!

Part 5: In-class discussion

Be prepared to discuss your case in class. Depending on availble time, we may have an oppurtunity to discuss the cases in class.