Ethical Machines

INTRODUCTION

AI for Good Not Bad

The word that echoes in my head is “squishy.” Squishy. You can’t get a grip on it. It’s here for a second, but you try to hold it and—woops!—it’s squirted out the sides. If only it were harder, more concrete, you could do something with it. But this squishy mass—it just invites confusion, sometimes frustration, and ultimately, resignation.

But it was the word a senior executive used to describe AI ethics when he explained why they weren’t doing much about it. His first order of business? Invite speakers to come and talk about the squishiness. Maybe they could help him corner the goo until it had nowhere to go. And maybe other speakers could help with other alleged properties of ethics that this and other executives ...