If/When
Apr 24, 2023
Uplift or Downshift? The Ethics of AI Development
Show Contributors: David Brin, Paul Thies
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On this episode of If/When we are joined by award-winning author and scientist David Brin to unpack the topic of the ethical development of artificial intelligence.
He shared his opinions on the role of built-in laws or codes of ethics, how to potentially incentivize AI behavior, and how reciprocal accountability might be the key to ensuring safe AI development.
Listen to the episode now.
About our guest
David Brin is a scientist, speaker, technical consultant and world-known author. His novels have been New York Times Bestsellers, winning multiple Hugo, Nebula and other awards. At least a dozen have been translated into more than twenty languages.
His 1989 ecological thriller, Earth, foreshadowed global warming, cyberwarfare and near-future trends such as the World Wide Web. His 2012 novel Existence extends this type of daring, near future extrapolation by exploring bio-engineering, intelligence and how to maintain an open-creative civilization. A 1998 movie, directed by Kevin Costner, was loosely based on The Postman.
Brin serves on advisory committees dealing with subjects as diverse as national defense and homeland security, astronomy and space exploration, SETI and nanotechnology, future/prediction and philanthropy. He has served since 2010 on the council of external advisers for NASA's Innovative and Advanced Concepts group (NIAC), which supports the most inventive and potentially ground-breaking new endeavors.
His non-fiction book — The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Freedom and Privacy? — deals with secrecy in the modern world. It won the Freedom of Speech Prize from the American Library Association.