How AI Reflects Our Humanity: Navigating Ethical Frontiers in the Digital Age

The Guardian has recently accused Microsoft of damaging its journalistic reputation by publishing an AI-generated poll speculating on the cause of a woman’s death next to an article by the news publisher (link).

By Monica Stătescu, partner Filip & Company

Microsoft’s news aggregation service published the automated poll next to a Guardian story about the death of a 21-year-old water polo coach who was found dead at a school in Sidney.

The poll, created by an AI program, asked: “What do you think is the reason behind the woman’s death?” Readers were then asked to choose from three options: murder, accident or suicide.

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The poll generated outrage from readers as well from the management of the Guardian, who claimed that the incident was potentially distressing for the grieving family and had caused “significant reputational damage” to the Guardian as well as damaging the reputation of the journalists who wrote the story. Microsoft responded that they have deactivated Microsoft-generated polls for all news articles and they are investigating the cause of the inappropriate content.

This is not the first and most likely will not be the last incident of this type. It relates to a larger discussion which has become prominent in the world in the last years: AI ethics – what should we do and not do with AI and what should we allow AI to do or not do for us and to us?

It is a discussion that brings into the forefront the age-old questions that aim to identify the values of the humankind, what is right and what is wrong and how should these be values be expressed so that we can teach them to another.

Through trial and error we have seen now that we cannot just input data into AI and be done with it. If we want it to be a truly useful and autonomous tool and not a liability, we must also teach it our values.  We must input not only data, but also compassion, kindness and respect for others. How well AI will handle this in the future will depend on how well we are able to find those values within ourselves and express them authentically.

The AI revolution is clearly a technological, business and social challenge. But I think most of all, it is an opportunity to look at ourselves, to reflect and define what makes us human. And if those values are what makes us human, how can we ask AI to keep them but so often not keep them ourselves?

Some say AI is a threat, others that it is the most brilliant human invention, some are excited about it, some are wary and many feel all of the above to varying degrees. To me, most importantly, AI is the mirror we put in front of ourselves to show us who we really are. And perhaps in our endeavor to develop and refine AI into the well-behaved, compassionate and kind-hearted instrument we want it to be, we may be prompted to share-in the process and do the same for ourselves.