Today’s class was another talk on the positive and negative sides of AI, the world is evolving at a fast pace and if we’re not careful technology could be used in a way that is harmful towards us as a society. So far I strongly believe we are being taken advantage of by all of the social media platforms when it comes to their terms and agreement section; they make it very long and unreadable to the point that no one would ever bother to read through it all, this is how they get to sell our data to other companies for profit. The image below is something I actually came across my explore page on Instagram a few days ago; it showcase how unbearably long these term and agreement sheets/ pages are. Nevertheless this doesn’t stop us from signing up because as humans we dot want to feel left out and want to be up to date with what is going on, and where better than social media. Despite this I believe it is our sole responsibility when it comes how we use technology. Social media platforms are hard to come off due to doom scrolling, once you fall into that trap it takes a lot of discipline to snap out of it and do something product instead. All this advanced technology can be used for good things but due to our cravings for dopamine and self validation we all get stuck on the wrong side of it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DI6kPCzuzJe/?img_index=2

When we talk about this topic we must ask ourselves:

• What are the moral concerns raised by new technologies?

Usually, when you agree to use a new product , you’re supposed to be told everything important; the benefits, the risks, and how it works. That way, you can decide for yourself if you want to go ahead. That’s called informed consent, and it’s a basic human right. But the issue is that with all this new advanced technology come with risks so we often don't know what all the effects or risks will be. So it becomes really hard to fully explain things to people or ask for their proper agreement and if people aren’t given full, clear information, they can’t truly make free or informed choices. That means their autonomy (the ability to make their own decisions) is being compromised, even if it's not on purpose.

• How do these technologies affect us as a society?

These new emerging technologies can cause a lot of unemployment in certain industries. For example Indeed’s job seeking algorithm as proven to be unreliable and inconsistent. The algorithm heavily relies on keyword matching, which can put qualified candidates at a disadvantage. Besides this many job seekers report not hearing back from employers after submitting applications through Indeed, which consequently leads to them feeling frustration and ignored.

Why It’s So Hard To Find the Perfect Job (And How AI Can Help)

I found a good article on Springer Nature Link’s website that brought together experts like ethicists, scientists, lawyers, and artists from around the world to talk about the ethical, legal, and social effects of new technologies. They looked into different challenges that are being presented by new technologies.

• Artificial wombs: These could give women new freedoms, but they also go against some traditional ideas about pregnancy and family. The paper uses Helen Sedgwick’s The Growing Season (2017) and Rebecca Ann Smith’s Baby X (2016) to explore the possibilities.
• Gene editing to eliminate malaria-carrying mosquitoes: This raised ethical questions about destroying a species to help humans, and how it might affect the environment.
• Buying and selling human DNA: This could lead to people being treated more like products (reduced respect for human personhood). This ethical question is very poor as it can be viewed as human trafficking, something that the black market would immensely benefit from; besides this hospitals could also benefit from this in terms of finding cures, donors, and conducting new research.
• Editing genes that can be passed down to children: This paper suggests a careful process for deciding whether and how this should be allowed, including getting input from different people.

This research was very insightful and it made me realise how some of these ethical questions are double edged swords because they could have good impact on us and the environment we live in, on the other hand it sounds invasive and can be easily abused in the wrong hands.

Ethical, Legal and Social Implications of Emerging Technology (ELSIET) Symposium

Reflection

Reflecting on the ethical and social implications of emerging technologies, it's clear that while these innovations offer incredible opportunities such as curing diseases, enhancing genes by selling or buying, and improving the livelihood of people, they also bring serious challenges. Technologies like AI, gene editing, and surveillance tools can unintentionally bring forth inequality, threaten privacy, or shift power dynamics in society. What we must do as a society is think and question not just “can we do something, but should we”.