Published By: The New York Times, 11/01/2016

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Summary

Carnegie Mellon University has announced it will create a new research center to explore the ethics of artificial intelligence. This topic has increasing importance due to recent rapid progress in computing and robotics, including computer vision and speech recognition, with applications such as self-driving cars.

Extended Discussion Questions

• The article quotes CMU’s president as saying, “We are at a unique point in time where the technology [artificial intelligence] is far ahead of society’s ability to restrain it.” Do you agree? Why or why not?
• The article mentions that the U.S. is studying autonomous weapons that can make killing decisions on their own — and debating whether to use that capability. This is an example of a commonly discussed ethical dilemma regarding artificial intelligence. What are some other ethical issues that need to be considered as AI becomes more advanced?

Relating This Story to the CSP Curriculum Framework

Global Impact Learning Objectives:

• LO 7.3.1 Analyze the beneficial and harmful effects of computing.
• LO 7.2.1 Explain how computing has impacted innovations in other fields.

Global Impact Essential Knowledge:

• EK 7.3.1A Innovations enabled by computing raise legal and ethical concerns.

Banner Image: “Network Visualization – Violet – Crop 13”, derivative work by ICSI. New license: CC BY-SA 4.0. Based on “Social Network Analysis Visualization” by Martin Grandjean. Original license: CC BY-SA 3.0