Ethics is often neglected in engineering education, two researchers write, despite mounting questions about how to responsibly design artificial intelligence programs.
One or two or 10 studies won’t solve our most complex societal challenges. Big problems require collaborations beyond academia.
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Rapidly changing temperatures and sensory environments are challenging the nervous systems of many species. Animals will be forced to evolve to survive.
The course of nanotechnology, like the carbon nanotubes in this laboratory, has been guided by many stakeholders.
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Two decades ago, the nanotechnology revolution avoided stumbling by bringing a wide range of people to the table to chart its development. The window is closing fast on AI following suit.
Rather than using AI to replace workers, companies can build teams that ethically integrate the technology.
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AI poses a variety of ethical conundrums, but the NASA teams working on Mars rovers exemplify an ethic of care and human-robot teamwork that could act as a blueprint for AI’s future.
Nanoparticles are a thousand times smaller than a human hair.
Illustration by Stephanie King, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Nanoparticles have contributed to profound medical advances like the COVID-19 vaccine, but without oversight, they pose ethical and environmental issues.
Tech leaders like Alphabet CEO Sundar Picha and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, seen here entering the White House, are just one piece of the AI regulation puzzle.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Industry leaders, scientists and policymakers may see AI’s technical potential, but societies have trouble adapting to revolutionary advances without broad public participation.
A woman tries out neurotechnology equipment during Tech Week in Bucharest, Romania, in May 2023.
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More invasive devices have prompted new debates about privacy and freedom. But it’s important to keep in mind that other technologies already sense and shape our thoughts, a neuroethicist argues.
SETI has been listening for markers that may indicate alien life – but is doing so ethical?
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Three Indigenous studies scholars draw from colonial histories and explain why listening for alien life can have ethical ramifications.
A refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo registers his fingerprints on a biometric machine in Uganda in 2022.
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Capturing biometric data helps UN agencies and other groups avoid the risk of fraud and increase efficiency. But the practice is complicated and has created security risks for vulnerable groups.
A few days after successful fertilization, an embryo becomes a rapidly dividing ball of cells called a blastocyst.
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Scientists can create viable eggs from two male mice. In the wake of CRISPR controversies and restrictive abortion laws, two experts start a dialogue on ethical research in reproductive biology.
The March for Science is one example of scientists advocating for political change.
AP Photo/Sait Serkan Gurbuz
Political mobilization among scientists has been growing in recent years. Two social scientists break down what this looks like and how it represents a culture shift among the scientific community.
A casual stroll on the beach can leave enough intact DNA behind to extract identifiable information.
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Environmental DNA provides a wealth of information for conservationists, archaeologists and forensic scientists. But the unintentional pickup of human genetic information raises ethical questions.
Some Luddites simply want to press ‘pause’ on the uninhibited march of technological progress.
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Despite the association of ‘Luddite’ with a naïve rejection of technology, the term and its origins are far richer and more complex than you might think.
The new generation of AI tools makes it a lot easier to produce convincing misinformation.
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Powerful new AI systems could amplify fraud and misinformation, leading to widespread calls for government regulation. But doing so is easier said than done and could have unintended consequences.
French lawmakers voted to require solar panel covers in most large parking lots.
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Our tendency to view machines as people and become attached to them points to real risks of psychological entanglement with AI technology.
DNA editing has the capacity to treat many diseases, but how to do this safely and equitably remains unclear.
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André O. Hudson, Rochester Institute of Technology and Gary Skuse, Rochester Institute of Technology
Following the controversial births of the first gene-edited babies, a major focus of the Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing was responsible use of CRISPR.
Nanoparticles (white disks) can be used to deliver treatment to cells (blue).
Brenda Melendez and Rita Serda/National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health
The proteins that cover nanoparticles are essential to understanding how they work in the body. Across 17 proteomics facilities in the US, less than 2% of the identified proteins were identical.
James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects, Co-Director, Media Effects Research Laboratory, & Director, Center for Socially Responsible AI, Penn State