Assignment 1: Critical argument essay Anonymous
COMP90087: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence –
Assignment 1 – Critical Argument Essay
Selected Case Study: Care Residence for people with severe psychiatric illness
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Task 1 – Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism enables us to consider a summative approach from the perspective of maximising utility when justifying the ethical suitability of this project. One of the primary concerns that we have when concerned from a utilitarianist perspective is the lasting consequences as well as the assessment of consequences that this implemented project will have on all parties. Particularly, we are concerned as to whether the implications result in a net overall increase in ‘happiness’ or ‘wellbeing’ for all parties. The overarching nature of utilitarianism then leads us to answer, what should a person do such that ‘a person ought to act to maximise happiness or pleasure and to minimise unhappiness or pain’ (West, 2020).
When considering the case of Meadowlands and whether to implement the machine learning system, we assume the concept of all individuals being equal and hence, we do not consider the social power disparity of management or factor in the carer role that staff have in overseeing residents. Specifically, we do not need to consider the relational context of the actors in this scenario, and we can treat all individuals equally regardless of the given context.
The key intended outcome of the machine learning system is the ability to prevent cases of possible ‘physical or verbal abuse using video of staff and resident interactions.’. Since this is due to past events of residents being found to have been abused by staff members. Utilitarianism would first consider the resident’s perspective and their increase in utility. If the system can prevent possible cases of physical or verbal abuse, this would lead to an overall direct benefit not only for the residents themselves but also for Meadowlands’ management due to fewer cases of abuse and damages to the reputation and prestige of the institution.
However, we also need to consider the consequential impact of implementing the system. The machine learning system operates by using facial recognition to
Assignment 1: Critical argument essay Anonymous
identify staff and residents as well as being trained on historical data from overseas psychiatric residences. From a utilitarianism perspective, we consider the consequences of implementation and how their associated utility alters our perspective, but only need to consider them based on their consequential impact on overall utility. For instance, if we are to consider how the implementation of the system involves the inherent invasion of privacy and infringement of the trust of staff, one might argue that over-surveillance may cause there to be a perceived element of distrust, unease, and unhappiness among all residents and staff. This is particularly illustrated in how the system requires there to be video cameras in private areas such as bedrooms and inherently infringes the respect for the autonomy of staff. In this case, the staff members and some residents might negatively perceive this system causing apprehension and generating disutility.
Additionally, given that the data the system is trained on overseas residences and hospitals and staff may be sceptical and have unwarranted distrust in the system believing that it may not apply to their institution, this can be perceived via certain biases causing a belief of abuse of automation from the perspective of staff. Utilitarianism would argue that if the overall consequences that can be deduced involve overall less abuse to residents and that the benefits and utility from the implementation of this system far outweigh the disutility, then resultingly this will bring maximum overall net positive well-being and argue it is, therefore, a viable and ethical system to implement.
Although there is perceived disutility associated with the implementation of this system and this has the potential of outweighing the utility associated with preventing cases of abuse, we also must consider the magnitude of utility and disutility when considering our summative approach. Utilitarianism would argue that although there is a considerable number of staff and residents with the perceived consequential disutility from implementation, this can however be demonstrated as a form of a relatively overall smaller inconvenience for staff and residents at the expense of a greater magnitude of utility that is given to vulnerable residents in the form of preventing abuse. In this case, the consequential disutility because of implementation although would involve a greater number of individuals, will only affect them on a smaller magnitude. Contrastingly, implementing the system would
Assignment 1: Critical argument essay Anonymous
have the opportunity to still bring maximum overall utility to residents given the greater benefits it brings to vulnerable residents in the form of prevention of harm and verbal abuse.
Overall, when understanding the implementation of this project from a utilitarian perspective, we are concerned with maximising utility-oriented consequentialism. Our assumptions lead us to deduce that the overall impact of implementing the system which has the benefit of reducing abuse to vulnerable residents, is greater than the perceived invasion of privacy or autonomy on staff that is associated with the implementation of the system. Then utilitarianism would deem this to be ethically suitable.
Task 2 – Virtue ethics
Where criticism of utilitarianism comes from is its oversimplification of assumptions and failure to consider that ‘life is more than a balance of pleasure over pain’ (West, 2020). Rather than judging the ethical suitability of the machine learning system at Meadowlands based on consequences, virtue ethics suggests that we should also evaluate the system based on moral character, and thereby enable us to incorporate the ideas of emotion, feelings, and attitudes that characters in our scenario would experience. Overall, these give greater indicators in navigating and determining ethical suitability.
To define what we mean by virtues. Vallor (2016) defines the term ‘virtue’ as moral virtues understood by Aristotle to reference the state of a person’s character including ‘stable dispositions such as honesty, courage, moderation, and patience that promote their possessor’s reliable performance of right or excellent actions’ (Vallor, 2016). Kraut (2001) states that ‘every ethical virtue is a condition intermediate between two other states, one involving excess, and the other deficiency’ and introduces the notion of a ‘golden mean’ to define virtues. Particularly, Vallor (2016) mentions that these are states that a person acts on through their own cultivation leading them to be deliberate in their own reasoned choices of good. That is, one only builds these virtues after learning and repeating these acts. Hence, virtue ethics deal with ethical situations based on acts of the notion of a ‘virtuous person’ in which we establish the ethical intermediate virtue and
Assignment 1: Critical argument essay Anonymous
that a ‘virtuous person not only tends to think and act rightly but also to feel and want rightly’ (Vallor, 2016).
From a virtue ethicist standpoint, the assessment of consequentialism that utilitarianism employs are flawed in its failure to recognise the emotions, character, and feelings that the parties invoke if this machine learning system were to be implemented. Virtue ethics can treat individuals beyond simple interpretations of benefits or utility and therefore able to use this social contextual information to allow us to be more critical in our assessment of ethical suitability. From a resident’s point of view, virtue ethics would consider the safety and consideration that this system would have on residents. It would also consider the two extreme vice states, one being not implementing the system which would lead to an example of deficiency and form of negligence for the safety of residents. Alternatively, on the other end of the spectrum, the vice would be excessive over-surveillance of the residents, infringing on the autonomy of residents and their own privacy. Since the system aims to reduce the cases of abuse of residents, a virtue ethicist would be inclined to believe that this implementation is ethically suitable if it enables virtues of safety and compassion for the residents.
However, if we were to also investigate aspects of the machine learning system similar to our analysis with utilitarianism and its use of constant video surveillance as well as being trained with historical data from overseas psychiatric residences and hospitals. The system heavily relies on these implementations infringing on the ideas of privacy and trust upon staff members and residents, posing an issue of virtues clashing. Virtue ethics would also have to consider how these virtues are considered from the perspective of the staff as well, and how imposing this system can create a sense of distrust and violation of autonomy on the staff, thereby causing interference or inability for them to carry out their duty of care. Implementation of this system suggests an example of excessive action with a representation of overbearing control over the entire institution, creating a pressurised work environment in which staff’s actions are under constant monitoring and scrutiny leading to scepticism and unwarranted distaste in the system. A virtue ethicist standpoint could argue using the ‘golden mean’ (Kraut, 2001) as a case of this system being excessive in action and therefore transitively a vice.
Assignment 1: Critical argument essay Anonymous
Overall, where the utilitarianist point of view falls short is its oversimplification of the perspective of weighing utility and disregard for relational context, moral character and ethical virtues. There are cases in which the summative utility is in favour of the implementation of the system at Meadowlands and this could be associated with the benefits it can give to reducing cases of abuse. However, virtue ethics can consider beyond the consequential impact of implementation and be able to consider the context of the situation, duty of care required by staff and thereby believe that the machine learning system is not ethically suitable if it is to provide a work environment of constant scrutiny and inquiry of actions on the staff and suggest there may be other acts that strike a virtuous mean.
Assignment 1: Critical argument essay Anonymous
References
Kraut, R., 2001. Aristotle’s Ethics. [online] Plato.stanford.edu. Available at:
Vallor, S., 2016. Vallor, Shannon. Technology and the Virtues: a Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting. OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE.
West, H., 2022. utilitarianism – Effects of utilitarianism in other fields. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at:
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