Culpability

by Bruce Holsinger

Artificial Intelligence confronts us with the problem of distributed culpability. Human morality, historically, centers around agency and intentionality. We blame the drunk driver, not the car; we credit the artist, not the brush. AI systems muddy these waters. AIs are not mere tools; their learning algorithms endow them with agency. They make “decisions” based on data, albeit without consciousness or intent. A strict division between human and machine culpability is quickly becoming untenable, creating a landscape where ethical norms strain under unfamiliar weights. In this context, both legal and ethical frameworks must evolve to address this novel, intricate web of agency and accountability. Failure to adapt our frameworks risks ethical disarray, misassigned blame, and ultimately a kind of moral haziness that is already having a corrosive effect on our society. We must always take responsibility for our own mistakes. Yet in this new age of intelligent machines, we must also take responsibility for theirs.

Texting behind the wheel has become the new drunk driving, with arrests, prosecutions, and convictions growing in frequency and visibility, affecting the young and the middle-aged, the poor and the rich.

Maybe the time has come for a different type of leader in tech. More skeptical, less idealistic. The New Cynics, let’s call them.