Three Threads of AI Ethics

This podcast examines the burgeoning field of AI Ethics, which the author argues lacks systematic organization due to its rapid, voluminous, and multidisciplinary growth. To address this, the author proposes a tripartite framework, categorizing AI ethics into Ethics and AI, focusing on the alignment of AI's functional characteristics with pre-existing ethical norms; Ethics in AI, concerned with embedding ethical and political commitments into AI's structural design; and Ethics of AI, which investigates the mutual shaping of AI systems and communal practices within their implementation contexts. This categorization clarifies the distinct research questions, required expertise, and potential for misplaced criticisms within AI ethics, ultimately aiming to foster more informed discussions about the discipline's scope and training. The author illustrates these categories using the Capability Approach and provides examples from existing literature to support this analytical framework.