UC Merced Magazine | Volume XX, Issue VI

Digital Assistants (Siri)

Navigation Systems

Healthcare (Disease tracking)

Home Security

Online Shopping (Recommend products)

Home Assistants (Alexa)

Search Engines

Automated Robotics (Roomba)

Manufacturing

Far From Automated Answers: Why AI Ethics Remain Ambiguous

By Alyssa Johansen

Department of Philosophy. She said when it comes to AI, the greatest ethical concerns and questions remain under debate and largely unanswered. Laws, Regulations and Accountability As uses of AI expand across countless industries, Gunn said, there are large pro ts to be made and companies have strong incentives to avoid being regulated. Current laws regarding plagiarism, copyright and intellectual property were not written with AI in mind. “When computer so ware rst came out decades ago, there was a debate over whether it was a product or an idea,” Gunn said. “Would it fall under patent or copyright? e output of generative AI, led by large language models such as ChatGPT, faces similar legal debates that a ect regulation and moral accountability.”

It’s common to fear the unknown. But when it comes to artificial intelligence, philosophy Professor Hanna Kiri Gunn said it’s what people think they know that makes them nervous. “What people are most concerned with is what they are most familiar with,” she said. “And that has a lot to do with science ction.” Movies such as “Her,” “Terminator” and “I, Robot” present audiences with highly capable, autonomous intelligences that exhibit human-like emotions and the capability for manipulative and even malevolent actions. Gunn conducts technology-related ethics research in the

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