Russo, Federica and Schliesser, Eric and Wagemans, Jean H.M. Connecting ethics and epistemology of AI. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

The need for fair and just AI is often related to the possibility of understanding AI itself, in other words, of turning an opaque box into a glass box, as inspectable as possible. Transparency and explainability, however, pertain to the technical domain and to philosophy of science, thus leaving the ethics and epistemology of AI largely disconnected. To remedy this, we propose an epistemology for glass box AI that explicitly considers how to incorporate values and other normative considerations at key stages of the whole process from design to implementation and use. To assess epistemological and ethical aspects of AI systems, we shift focus from trusting the output of such a system, to trusting the process that leads to such outcome. To do so, we build on ‘Computational Reliabilism’ and on Creel’s account of transparency. Further, we draw on argumentation theory, specifically about how to model the handling, eliciting, and interrogation of the authority and trustworthiness of expert opinion in order to elucidate how the design process of AI systems can be tested critically. By combining these insights, we develop a procedure for assessing the reliability and transparency of algorithmic decision-making that functions as a tool for experts and non-experts to inquiring into relevant epistemological and ethical aspects of AI systems. We then consider normative questions such as how social consequences that harm intersectionally vulnerable populations can be modelled in the context of AI design and implementation, drawing on work on the literature on inductive risk in the philosophy of science to think them through. Our epistemology-cum-ethics is developed from the vantage point of the conditions for enabling ethical assessment to be built into the whole process of design, implementation, and use of an AI system, in which values (epistemic and non-epistemic) are explicitly considered at each stage and by every salient actor involved. This approach, we think, complements other valuable accounts that target post-hoc ethical assessment.

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Item Type:	Other
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Russo, Federica Schliesser, Eric Wagemans, Jean H.M.
Keywords:	Ethics of AI; Epistemology of AI; Explainability; Transparency; Model validation
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence > AI and Ethics General Issues > Ethical Issues General Issues > Science and Society
Depositing User:	Dr Federica Russo
Date Deposited:	16 Apr 2022 04:12
Last Modified:	16 Apr 2022 04:12
Item ID:	20449
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence > AI and Ethics General Issues > Ethical Issues General Issues > Science and Society
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/20449

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• Connecting ethics and epistemology of AI. (deposited 16 Apr 2022 04:12) [Currently Displayed]
  • Connecting ethics and epistemology of AI. (deposited 09 Dec 2022 14:08)

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