When AI Ethics Goes Astray: A Case Study of Autonomous Vehicles. (February 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Etienne, Hubert
• Is Part Of: Social science computer review. Volume 40:Number 1(2022)
• Page Start: 236
• Page End: 246
• Publication Date: 2022-02
• Subjects: autonomous vehicle -- self-driving car -- AI ethics -- Moral Machine -- trolley problem; Social sciences -- Data processing -- Periodicals; Computers -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Microcomputers -- Periodicals; Sciences sociales -- Informatique -- Périodiques; Micro-ordinateurs -- Périodiques; 300.285
• DOI: 10.1177/0894439320906508
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0894-4393

Abstract

This article discusses the dangers of the Moral Machine (MM) experiment, alerting against both its uses for normative ends and the whole approach it is built upon to address ethical issues. It explores additional methodological limits of the experiment on top of those already identified by its authors; exhibits the dangers of computational moral systems for modern democracies, such as the "voting-based system" recently developed out of the MM's data; and provides reasons why ethical decision-making fundamentally excludes computational social choice methods.