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Aileen Benedict
Professor Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
10/11/2015
Topic Proposal: AI Ethical Issues
Introduction/Overview
Robotics and artificial intelligence, our attempts to mimic human intelligence in a
machine, is what interests me. Id like to research our progress of creating artificial intelligence
and to then examine the possible ethical problems behind that. Technology is growing at a very
fast pace, and while an incredibly human-like AI may have seemed impossible years ago, it may
not be so impossibly far away today. MIT Professor Joseph Weizenbaum wrote Computer Power
and Human Reason in 1976, arguing that even if it were possible to build, it should never be
attempted anyways. Why? He believed that artificial intelligence would never be able to make
the same decisions as humans without the same level of compassion.
While looking for opinions on our progression of artificial intelligence, Ive been seeing
many different sides. Some are optimistic and believe that we are getting closer than we think
towards the advancement of more human-like AI, while others say that there is still a long way to
go before computers are intelligent. A New York Times article talks about Siri and the
developments of voice and speech recognition, also stating that artificial intelligence [is] getting
so good so quickly that it isnt really a stretch to imagine that talking to computers will soon
become one of the signature ways we interact with them. While the author of this article may
just be focused on the speaking aspect, the overall tone was very optimistic. Frederick Allen, on
the other hand, writes in an Atlantic Magazine article, Unreasonable Facsimilie, that AI is a

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backwater at best and is still very behind. He describes the Loebner Prize Competition in AI,
where computer programs abilities to converse are tested. At this competition, different
computer terminals are set up around the room. At each terminal, there is either a person on the
other side, or a program created to discuss a certain topic. Judges then sit down at one of the
terminals and type through the computer about the given topic (such as pets, or baseball). After
this conversation, the judge must guess as to whether they just conversed with a program or a
real person. Usually, its easy to tell if it was a program, since the conversation may have been
very choppy or not extremely logical. A good example of these types of programs and the lack of
a logical, flowing conversation is with cleverbot.com. When I asked if it had a cat, it responded
Yes. I have a mastodon. According to Allen, the judges almost always correctly guessed which
ones were programs, which shows that we still have a long way to go before AI can be
considered human-like.
There are also many sides to the ethics behind this. What are the dangers and possibilities
behind creating an intelligence equal to or more than that of humans? The idea of creating robots
and artificial intelligence is intriguing for most of us because of everything they could help us
with, ranging from simple chores all the way up to research and development of new technology.
Would this just make them slaves then, if their only purpose was to work for us? If we ever
create AIs with similar brain power to that of humans, things would become very complex. Is it
possible for them to become sentient, and would we need to give them basic rights? There may
also be religious conflicts with creating our own artificial intelligence. I believe that we are still
far from this point, to where we need to worry about sentient robots, but its still something to
think about.

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Artificial Intelligence has been something weve thought and imagined about for such a
long time. There have been so many science fiction books and movies revolving around this idea.
In Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Marvin is an extremely intelligent, but depressed, robot who
helps the main characters. The book and movie even go as far as imagining the artificial
intelligence named Deep Thought who comes up with the answer to life and everything.
We are getting closer to the innovations and creations of human-like, intelligent AI,
although the pace may be varied. Our society seems to be getting more and more focused around
technology, so this topic is definitely something that will be a big deal later on in the near future.

Initial Inquiry Question(s)

What are the ethical problems surrounding human-like artificial intelligence, and is it
even possible to create this? Is it possible for AI to eventually gain emotions or sentiment? A
quantum computer is a computer that stores information using the quantum states of subatomic
particles, thus having a much greater speed and computer power than todays computers. Would
the development of the quantum computer aid in the development of artificial intelligence
because of this improved computing speed? What kind of research is being done right now
involving robotics and AI? Could we combine biology, psychology, and computer science to
develop robotics in this way (human-like)? What problems could arise due to AI becoming
identical or superior to human intelligence?

My Interest in this Topic

Im interested in researching this subject because I am majoring in Computer Science,
and its my goal to eventually become a part of the research and development working to create
and improve artificial intelligence. Of course, Im a freshman and just starting out with my

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major, so anything could happen or change in the future. Im intrigued by all of this, though, and
will probably have my concentration on Intelligent Systems. Ive been inspired by a lot of
science fiction books and movies with robotics, and would love to see a lot of the things depicted
actually happen (like Data from Star Trek). A lot of what I know or imagine is solely from books,
however, so I know that my knowledge about current events and what is actually happening
today with artificial intelligence is somewhat lacking. Ive read a few articles and talked to my
dad about things such as IBMs Watson winning jeopardy and the development of quantum
computers. My knowledge is very limited, though, and Id like to go more in depth with this
topic, especially since its something Id like to try working with in the future. We use
technology everywhere in society, and its constantly improving. If we ever develop robotics and
artificial intelligence further, we might even get far enough as to where they become as common
as computers and smartphones. There are so many possibilities and unanswered questions.

Next Steps
I will continue to use the library databases for research, as theyve had a lot of really
interesting results with different points of views. I think Ill also check out a few books from
Atkins to look through during the course of this research project. Id like to read about what
other people think about this topic, such as with Joseph Weizenbaums Computer Power and
Human Reason. The New York Times is also a really good source of current information. I should
probably also try to find some good science magazines to look at.
I might see if I can find some professors in the Computer Science department to ask
about their opinions and their research projects, if they are working on any. When I came to
UNCC for a tour a couple years ago, we were able to see some of the students robotics projects,
so that would be really fun to look at as well. It would probably also be really helpful to talk to

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some of the reference librarians for Computer Science and inquire about artificial intelligence
ethics. There are so many books and resources at Atkins, its kind of overwhelming, but exciting
at the same time.