Ethical decisions are rarely easy. Now, even less so. Smart machines, cheap computation, and vast amounts of consumer data not only offer incredible opportunities for modern organizations, they also present a moral dilemma for 21st century leaders too: Is it OK, as long as it’s legal?
Does Your AI Have Users’ Best Interests at Heart?
We now live in a world built on machine learning and AI, which relies on data as its fuel, and which in the future will support everything from precision agriculture to personalized healthcare. The next generation of platforms will even recognize our emotions and read our thoughts. For leaders in the Algorithmic Age, simply following the rules has never looked more perilous, nor more morally insufficient. As we create systems that are more capable of understanding and targeting services at individual users, our capacity to do evil by automating bias and weaponizing algorithms will grow exponentially. And yet, this also raises the question of what exactly is evil? Is it breaking the law, breaking your industry code of conduct, or breaking user trust? Rather than relying on regulation, leaders must instead walk an ethical tight rope. Your customers will expect you to use their data to create personalized and anticipatory services for them while demanding that you prevent the inappropriate use and manipulation of their information. As you look for your own moral compass, one principle is apparent: You can’t serve two masters. In the end, you either build a culture based on following the law, or you focus on empowering users. The choice might seem to be an easy one, but it is more complex in practice.