Really pertinent piece, but intrigued as to why you think businesses are afraid to use the term 'ethics' and why they are afraid to consider it. You didn't seem to answer the obvious question your piece poses.
Great question. I'd say there are a variety of reasons.
1. Some people think ethics and business don't go together. They think that the primary if not sole ethical obligation of a business is to maximize shareholder value. Thus, to trumpet ethics is, for them, to stand in defiance of their primary/one obligation. Now of course I think their account of the separation of ethics and business is misguided, but that's a different isssue.
2. They think of ethics as squishy or subjective or touch-feely and they don't know what to do with it. This is combined with "what's ethical for you is unethical for me; we all have our own personal beliefs" and so since there's no agreement here, let's leave it alone.
3. Similar to (2): "what's ethical for me is unethical for you; these are all personal, private beliefs so let's leave them out of this collective effort we call a business.
4. Some people want to speak the language of ethics but they know people in (1)-(3) are turned off by that kind of talk and they don't want to make waves and/or they want internal alignment and/or they have other more pressing goals and battles to fight.
5. They don't know how to have conversations about ethics with other people without people getting too fired up/offended/aggressive. These are "hot button" issues better left unpressed.
I'm sure there are more reasons but those loom large. How's that sound to you?
Thanks Reid. Completely agree with all these reasons. I also believe that ethics requires a significant degree of thought, of balance, mindfulness which is a distraction for business because it’s not perceived as action. CEO’s typically have short timespans and get fixated on ‘putting their stamp’ on the business and feel the need to get busy.
I would be interested to hear why you think the move from 'AI Ethics' to 'Responsible AI' is made. If, as you suggest, it is not merely a semantic move, then businesses seem to have another motive rather than just moving away from the scary word 'ethics'. What do you believe this is? And why select fairness/safety etc as the representatives of this? We have to, after all, have some way of operationalising ethics!
Really pertinent piece, but intrigued as to why you think businesses are afraid to use the term 'ethics' and why they are afraid to consider it. You didn't seem to answer the obvious question your piece poses.
Great question. I'd say there are a variety of reasons.
1. Some people think ethics and business don't go together. They think that the primary if not sole ethical obligation of a business is to maximize shareholder value. Thus, to trumpet ethics is, for them, to stand in defiance of their primary/one obligation. Now of course I think their account of the separation of ethics and business is misguided, but that's a different isssue.
2. They think of ethics as squishy or subjective or touch-feely and they don't know what to do with it. This is combined with "what's ethical for you is unethical for me; we all have our own personal beliefs" and so since there's no agreement here, let's leave it alone.
3. Similar to (2): "what's ethical for me is unethical for you; these are all personal, private beliefs so let's leave them out of this collective effort we call a business.
4. Some people want to speak the language of ethics but they know people in (1)-(3) are turned off by that kind of talk and they don't want to make waves and/or they want internal alignment and/or they have other more pressing goals and battles to fight.
5. They don't know how to have conversations about ethics with other people without people getting too fired up/offended/aggressive. These are "hot button" issues better left unpressed.
I'm sure there are more reasons but those loom large. How's that sound to you?
Thanks Reid. Completely agree with all these reasons. I also believe that ethics requires a significant degree of thought, of balance, mindfulness which is a distraction for business because it’s not perceived as action. CEO’s typically have short timespans and get fixated on ‘putting their stamp’ on the business and feel the need to get busy.
Yes, we're very much in agreement :)
I would be interested to hear why you think the move from 'AI Ethics' to 'Responsible AI' is made. If, as you suggest, it is not merely a semantic move, then businesses seem to have another motive rather than just moving away from the scary word 'ethics'. What do you believe this is? And why select fairness/safety etc as the representatives of this? We have to, after all, have some way of operationalising ethics!