AI Morality

A philosophical task force explores how AI is revolutionizing our lives - and what moral problems it might bring, showing us what to be wary of, and what to be hopeful for.

There is no more important issue at present than artificial intelligence. AI has begun to penetrate almost every sphere of human activity. It will disrupt our lives entirely. David Edmonds brings together a team of leading philosophers to explore some of the urgent moral concerns we should have about this revolution. The chapters are rich with examples from contemporary society and imaginative projections of the future. The contributors investigate problems we're all aware of, and introduce some that will be new to many readers. They discuss self and identity, health and insurance, politics and manipulation, the environment, work, law, policing, and defence. Each of them explains the issue in a lively and illuminating way, and takes a view about how we should think and act in response. Anyone who is wondering what ethical challenges the future holds for us can start here.

David Edmonds, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford University

David Edmonds is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford University and a former BBC radio journalist. He is the author or editor of many critically acclaimed philosophy books (and one on chess) which together have been translated into over two dozen languages. These include the (with John Eidinow) the international best seller Wittgenstein's Poker and, most recently, a biography, Parfit: A Philosopher and his Mission to Save Morality. David also hosts a couple of philosophy podcasts. Philosophy Bites, which he makes with Nigel Warburton has had over 45 million downloads.

Introduction, David Edmonds
Part I: Health and Insurance
1. Trust Me, I'm a Doctor, Julian Savulescu
2. Cyber-hacks, Maximilian Kiener
3. AI and the end of insurance?, Jonathan Pugh
Part II: Law and Crime
4. Computer says No!, John Zerilli
5. Guilty! Legal Adjudication, John Tasioulas
6. Predictive Policing, Binesh Hass
Part III:Politics and Manipulation
7. Recommended!, Silvia Milano
8. Undue Influence, Thomas Douglas & Gabriel de Marco
9. The Perfect Politician, Theodore Lechterman
Part IV: Defence
10. Autonomous Weapons, Linda Eggert
11. Cyber Defence, Mariarosaria Taddeo
Part V: Economics, Skills, and the Environment
12. The Market for Data, Glen Weyl & Aksel Sterri
13. AI and climate change, Mariarosaria Taddeo & Luciano Floridi
14. The Economics of Work, Daniel Susskind
15. Corporate Profiling, Carina Prunkl
16. Losing skills, Carissa Véliz
Part VI: Identity and Values
17. Self-Knowledge, Muriel Leuenberger
18. Three Laws of AI, César Palacios González
19. Ethics and Games, Peter Millican
20. Value-alignment, Ruth Chang