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Moral dimension of man and artificial intelligence

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Abstract

Steady technological and economic progress gives science and the scientific method a distinguished position in today's culture. Therefore, there may be an impression that areas not belonging to science may hamper this progress of humanity. The views of Dean E. Wooldridge exemplify this position. The only hope is seen in the rational dimension of man in which there is no room for ethical considerations. This rational dimension is also the sole representation of man in the image created by artificial intelligence. Before, AI was at least interested in philosophical issues concerning a model of man, now, AI has no interest in them; it has become an applied science trying to produce workable systems for military and industrial application. However, the model of rational man remained, and because of the prestige of computer science, the model is the most widely recognized as an official model of our epoch.

There are three possible ways of improving the situation with regard to the moral dimension of man: saturating knowledge bases with moral values, carefully choosing the sponsor of each project, and saturating education with ethics by making it a part of each major on the undergraduate, and, in particular, the graduate levels.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Duquesne University, 15282, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Adam Drozdek

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  1. Adam Drozdek
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Drozdek, A. Moral dimension of man and artificial intelligence. AI & Soc 6, 271–280 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02472799

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