Computer Science Archives - Viterbi Conversations in Ethics

Spring 2024 Weekly News Profile

AI’s Impact on Tomorrow’s Jobs

Mary Karapetyan April 2, 2024 AI Computer Science Engineering

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the workforce, with thousands of companies developing advanced systems to streamline productivity. Despite its promise to enhance efficiency, there is a growing concern over its potential to displace millions of jobs across various industries over the next five years. As AI models become more sophisticated, there is a need for a deeper understanding of their capabilities and implications for the future of work and society.

Spring 2023 Weekly News Profile

New AI, New Problems: ChatGPT in the Classroom

VCE January 17, 2023 Artificial Intelligence Computer Science Education

The introduction of OpenAI’s AI text generator ChatGPT late last year has amplified the conversation surrounding AI use in classrooms. Aside from issues of dataset bias, OpenAI must also contend with critics who question whether ChatGPT is being used for academic assignments. Plagiarism software must now accelerate development in order to identify ChatGPT’s human-like responses.

Fall 2022 Weekly News Profile

The Rise and Conflict of AI-Generated Images

VCE September 18, 2022 Art Artificial Intelligence Computer Science Machine Learning

From art competitions to online horror stories, AI art has seen a massive spread online. These internet-based machine-learning models raise questions about misinformation, originality, and bias. While most results from AI-generated images have been developed as jokes, the internet may soon need to contend with these models as they become more realistic.

Volume 5 Issue 3 Winter 2022

Pitfalls of Predictive Policing: An Ethical Analysis

VCE February 17, 2022 Algorithms Computer Science Policing Predictive Policing Racial Inequality

Predictive policing is a police tactic that uses computer algorithms to predict where crime is likely to occur. This tactic, which has been used in cities like Los Angeles, allows the police to deploy more officers to “high-risk locations.” However, predictive policing violates the ethics of consequentialism and the ethical frameworks of justice and fairness by disproportionately targeting low-income neighborhoods and high-minority areas with increased police activity. Although boosting police patrols can deter crime in some cases, they also make people feel wary and frightened. Predictive policing is an unethical police tactic and should be further regulated or used in other manners. Crime should not be prevented by police-generated fear.

Volume 5 Issue 3 Winter 2022

Now That We Have Your Attention

VCE February 17, 2022 Computer Science Data Privacy Privacy Surveillance

In a traditional business model, companies provide a product or service to their customers. However, in today’s digital marketplace, users of a company’s app, website, or game are not the true customers. While users are able to access these apps for free, companies can then sell those users data and attention to advertisers and other interested parties. But in a world now dominated by surveillance capitalism, is the use of user data exploitation, or just good business? Tech companies must increase transparency of how they plan to collect and use data, and developers should refuse to use manipulative or addictive methods in order to capitalize on users.

Fall 2021 Weekly News Profile

Your Right to Repair

VCE September 6, 2021 Computer Science Mechanical Engineering Planned Obsolescence

The Right to Repair movement wants to give you the power to repair your own devices without having to rely on their manufacturers — but do those companies’ concerns mean that the movement isn’t ethically sound?

Spring 2021 Volume 5 Issue 1

The Ethics of Digital Voice Assistants

VCE April 27, 2021 Artificial Intelligence Computer Science Digital Voice Assistant

In 2019, there were a staggering 3.25 billion digital voice assistants in use across the globe, a figure that is predicted to rise to 8 billion by 2023. These assistants, which include Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and more, are not just computers; they have voices and personalities, and we develop social relationships with them just like we do with real people. However, the way they are currently designed, voice assistants enable and even encourage certain stereotypes and social behaviors in their users. This paper explores the ethicality of digital voice assistants and their effects on those who use them and suggests ways designers can approach their development to make sure such socially detrimental effects are mitigated.

Spring 2021 Volume 5 Issue 1

Pay to Play: The Ethics of Video Game Economics

VCE April 27, 2021 Computer Science Gaming Addiction Loot Boxes Microtransactions Video Games

Video games provide endless hours of fun for people of all ages, races, and genders. Gamers may not realize, however, that certain elements of their favorite form of entertainment may pose a serious threat to their wallets—and even their mental health. Game developers employ various techniques to manipulate users into purchasing items in the in-game store, including lockouts, reward removal, and loot boxes; considering virtue ethics and computer scientists’ ethical code emphasizes the need to remedy this exploitation.

Fall 2020 Weekly News Profile

The Unnerving Implications of Brain-Computer Interfaces

VCE September 28, 2020 Autonomy Brain-Computer Interfaces Computer Science Privacy

9/28/2020 Elon Musk has always been one for lofty technological goals, but he’s not always concerned with their societal or ethical implications. During a recent…

Podcast

Featured Spring 2023 VCE Podcast

Electric Vehicles: Climate Saver?

VCE January 31, 2023

Hosts Maya and Josh discuss the ethics of lithium battery mining and electric vehicle use with a panel of engineering essayists.

Fall 2022 VCE Podcast

Predictive Policing

VCE October 31, 2022

In this episode, the Viterbi Conversations in Ethics team explores the ethics behind predictive policing.

Fall 2022 VCE Podcast

Clean Energy

VCE October 31, 2022

In this episode, the Viterbi Conversations in Ethics team explores the ethics behind clean energy.

Fall 2022 VCE Podcast

Cryptocurrency

VCE October 24, 2022

In this episode, the Viterbi Conversations in Ethics team explores the ethics behind cryptocurrency.

Fall 2022 VCE Podcast

Autonomous Vehicles

VCE October 24, 2022

In this episode, the Viterbi Conversations in Ethics team explores the ethics behind autonomous vehicles.

Grand Challenges Special Issue

Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

Redefining Societal Progress for Engineers

VCE March 29, 2023

Dr. Erin Cech’s critique of the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges focuses heavily on the pitfalls of technological determinism. This paper supports Cech’s argument through a discussion of current examples of the consequences of technological determinism, such as the Black Lives Matter and Me Too movements, medication accessibility, and facial recognition technology. Though the consequences of a zealous engineering mentality are commonplace in our society, there are also current examples of tech companies neglecting to develop technology due to its possible negative consequences.

Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

How the Technical Sciences and the Social Sciences Should Go Hand-in-Hand

VCE March 29, 2023

The fourteen Grand Challenges presented by the National Academy of Engineers (NAE) fail to involve ethics as a part of the solution to these issues. Traditionally, engineers have kept their work separate from its societal implications. Engineers and their non-technical counterparts have an obligation to view all technical solutions under the moral lens of ethicists and futurists. Going forward, engineers must be aware of their limits and work with experts outside of their fields to develop solutions that will be cognizant of society as a whole.

Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

The Lies We Tell to Inspire: Responding to the Engineering Double Standard

VCE March 29, 2023

The National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges are critiqued by Dr. Erin Cech for what she describes as a double standard in engineering. Though Cech rightly discusses a lack of accountability and acknowledgement within the profession, her argument lacks nuance. The Grand Challenges were ultimately a promotional tool meant to inspire the next generation of engineers, yet Cech holds them to a standard of being professional rules and guidelines. This paper will discuss the distinctions that Cech’s argument lacks, including placing an unreasonable amount of responsibility on engineers and overstating their influence.

Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

The Grand Challenges: Authorial Particularism and a Lost Opportunity for an Equitable Society

VCE March 29, 2023

The fourteen Grand Challenges were developed by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in an effort to expose future generations to the wide range of innovation and technology that they could one day take part in. As detailed by the Challenges’ creators, the list includes challenges that are most significant to our current world. Dr. Erin Cech’s critique of the Grand Challenges is that a lack of diversity in the panel of engineering experts led to a lack of oversight into issues that are actually pertinent to developing nations. Cech’s argument that the Grand Challenges are a missed opportunity for social justice holds validity, but her mischaracterization of the lack of diversity requires further consideration.

Weekly News Profile

Featured Spring 2024 Weekly News Profile

Fighting for our Latino Migrant Workers after Baltimore’s Bridge Collapse

Janessi Diaz April 10, 2024

Tragedy struck on the night of March 26 when the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore came tumbling down. The collapse occurred after a large container ship, the Dali, collided with the bridge. However, the collapse was far from the most heartbreaking news of the event; Six men who had been working on the bridge when it fell lost their lives. The six men, Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, Miguel Luna, Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, Carlos Hernandez, Dorlian Castillo Cabrera, and Jose Mynor Lopez, were all migrant workers from Central America. As we remember and honor their lives, their deaths highlight the lack of care in the construction industry when it comes to protecting Latino migrant workers.

Spring 2024 Weekly News Profile

AI’s Impact on Tomorrow’s Jobs

Mary Karapetyan April 2, 2024

Spring 2024 Weekly News Profile

Engineering Ways to Care for Astronauts’ Mental Health

Rachel Pak March 27, 2024

Amidst plans for space missions designed to establish a stronger human presence in space, concerns rise for the mental health of the astronauts. These astronauts, such as those selected for NASA’s Artemis missions, will embark on trips into deep space that will last months or even years away from Earth’s familiar environment and their loved ones. Since spacecraft tend to have an isolated and confined nature, NASA engineers are devising strategies to safeguard the mental health of their astronauts.