Artificial Intelligence

AI is much more than just a simple tool powering our smartphones or allowing us to ask Alexa about the latest cinema times. It is a technology that is, in very subtle but unmistakable ways, exerting an ever-increasing influence over our lives - and the more we use it, the more AI is altering our existence.

The rise of AI and super-intelligent AI raises ethical issues. AI is the power behind Google's search engine, enables social media sites to serve up targeted advertising, and gives Alexa and Siri their voices. It is also the technology enabling self-driving vehicles, predictive policing, and autonomous weapons that have the ability to kill without direct human intervention. All of these bring up complex ethical issues that are still unresolved and will continue to be the subject of ongoing debate.

There are untold how-to books on AI technology, replete with methods to improve and advance the statistics and algorithms of AI; however, the social, ethical and security impacts are often at best a secondary consideration - if discussed at all.

This book explores the complex topic of AI ethics in a cross-functional way, alternating between theory and practice. Practical and recent events, and their associated challenges, are presented, such as the collateral effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the application of AI technologies. The book also gives an up-to-date overview of the potential positive and negative outcomes of AI implementations together with an analysis of AI from an ethical perspective.