Terms Language technology
Terms Meaning
Week 1 Ethics and technology
Machine translation Automatic translation systems
e.g. google translate, fb automatic translation
direct stakeholders
● Users (rely on the quality of the translations)
indirect stakeholders
● Authors of the text - they are misrepresented
● Subjects in the text - Misgendered, wrongfully accused (google translate
example)
● Society at large - perpetuated stereotypes hinder equality (thinking doctors
are only male)
Ethics The study of what is morally right or wrong. This requires us to do two things:
● Get the facts, to determine what is.
● Appeal to values, to determine what ought.
1. The Utilitarian approach “Ethical actions are those that provide the greatest balance of good over evil”
1. Identify the various courses of action available to us.
2. Ask who will be affected by each action and what benefits or harms will be
derived from each.
3. Choose the action that will produce the greatest benefits and the least
harm.
The ethical action is the one that provides the greatest good for the greatest number.
2. The rights approach People have dignity based on their ability to choose freely what they will do with their
lives, and they have a fundamental moral right to have these choices respected. It is a
violation of human dignity to use people in ways they do not freely choose.
3. The fairness or justice approach equals should be treated equally and unequals unequally." How fair is an action? Does
it treat everyone in the same way, or does it show favoritism and discrimination?
Favoritism gives benefits to some people without a justifiable reason for singling them
out
Discrimination imposes burdens on people who are no different from those on whom
burdens are not imposed.
4. The common good approach Ensure that the social policies, social systems, institutions, and environments on which
we depend are beneficial to all.
5. The virtue approach There are certain ideals toward which we should strive, which provide for the full
development of our humanity. Virtues are attitudes or character traits that enable us
to be and to act in ways that develop our highest potential. They enable us to pursue
the ideals we have adopted.
Examples of virtues: Honesty, Courage, Compassion, Generosity, Fidelity, Integrity,
Fairness, Self-control, Prudence
Value sensitive design “A theoretically grounded approach to the design of technology that accounts for
human values in a principled and comprehensive manner throughout the design
process”
Direct stakeholders People that are directly interacting with the technology, have a ‘visible role’ in the
technology (developers, users, direct competitors)
Indirect stakeholders People that are not directly using the technology, but are in some way affected by it
(passers-by, society at large, government, other companies affected)
Harms: Allocative harms when opportunities or resources are unfairly distributed.
are people treated fairly, Do they receive equal opportunities?
e.g. if you have a system that reads cv’s/motivation letters and also tries to measure
someone's personality, they find that people who talk in a particular way are rejected
and other are accepted, if the system is biased in any way and rejects a particular
group because of their writing which does not tell like a person whether they are right
for the job or not.
Terms Meaning
Week 1 Ethics and technology
Machine translation Automatic translation systems
e.g. google translate, fb automatic translation
direct stakeholders
● Users (rely on the quality of the translations)
indirect stakeholders
● Authors of the text - they are misrepresented
● Subjects in the text - Misgendered, wrongfully accused (google translate
example)
● Society at large - perpetuated stereotypes hinder equality (thinking doctors
are only male)
Ethics The study of what is morally right or wrong. This requires us to do two things:
● Get the facts, to determine what is.
● Appeal to values, to determine what ought.
1. The Utilitarian approach “Ethical actions are those that provide the greatest balance of good over evil”
1. Identify the various courses of action available to us.
2. Ask who will be affected by each action and what benefits or harms will be
derived from each.
3. Choose the action that will produce the greatest benefits and the least
harm.
The ethical action is the one that provides the greatest good for the greatest number.
2. The rights approach People have dignity based on their ability to choose freely what they will do with their
lives, and they have a fundamental moral right to have these choices respected. It is a
violation of human dignity to use people in ways they do not freely choose.
3. The fairness or justice approach equals should be treated equally and unequals unequally." How fair is an action? Does
it treat everyone in the same way, or does it show favoritism and discrimination?
Favoritism gives benefits to some people without a justifiable reason for singling them
out
Discrimination imposes burdens on people who are no different from those on whom
burdens are not imposed.
4. The common good approach Ensure that the social policies, social systems, institutions, and environments on which
we depend are beneficial to all.
5. The virtue approach There are certain ideals toward which we should strive, which provide for the full
development of our humanity. Virtues are attitudes or character traits that enable us
to be and to act in ways that develop our highest potential. They enable us to pursue
the ideals we have adopted.
Examples of virtues: Honesty, Courage, Compassion, Generosity, Fidelity, Integrity,
Fairness, Self-control, Prudence
Value sensitive design “A theoretically grounded approach to the design of technology that accounts for
human values in a principled and comprehensive manner throughout the design
process”
Direct stakeholders People that are directly interacting with the technology, have a ‘visible role’ in the
technology (developers, users, direct competitors)
Indirect stakeholders People that are not directly using the technology, but are in some way affected by it
(passers-by, society at large, government, other companies affected)
Harms: Allocative harms when opportunities or resources are unfairly distributed.
are people treated fairly, Do they receive equal opportunities?
e.g. if you have a system that reads cv’s/motivation letters and also tries to measure
someone's personality, they find that people who talk in a particular way are rejected
and other are accepted, if the system is biased in any way and rejects a particular
group because of their writing which does not tell like a person whether they are right
for the job or not.
