Degrees of Change

Chapter 6The Mutual Alignment of AI and Society Cultivating Complementary Literacies in Ethics and AI

—Kenneth R. Fleischmann, The University of Texas at Austin

Artificial intelligence (AI) impacts almost every aspect of our lives today and has significant implications for our economy and for the future of work. However, AI is not always designed to be aligned with human values. Better aligning AI with society requires expanding AI developers’ understanding of society and the public's understanding of AI. AI developers need to be more prescient about the ethical and societal implications of their work, while society at large needs to better understand AI and its implications for our society and economy.

The key question is: how can we bridge the gap between what policymakers and the public need to know about AI and what AI developers need to know about society? To address this question, I synthesize insights from my 26 years of conducting research on the ethics of AI and my 18 years of teaching about the ethics of AI. I conclude that, given that the rate of progress in the design, development, and deployment of new AI systems is unlikely to slow down in the foreseeable future, it is critical that AI developers, policymakers, and the public all become better at anticipating the potential societal implications and consequences of AI before they happen. I end with the following takeaways that can help put us on a path toward better aligning the futures of AI and society: AI developers ...