RSS 1.0Science and Technology Ethics
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Promoting and advancing human rights in global AI ecosystems : the need for a comprehensive framework under international lawExecutive Summary:Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally transforming human interactions, key processes and systems that underpin modern society, from decision-making mechanisms to information flows, economic structures, and international relations. While its potential is comprehensive, AI introduces significant risks, such as reduced human autonomy, algorithmic bias, data privacy threats, and challenges in accountability for algorithmic harm. Emerging technologies, such as embodied AI and large language models, exacerbate these risks, affecting human-machine interactions and raising concerns about environmental sustainability and human rights across the AI value chain. In response to far-reaching societal impacts of AI, policymakers are increasingly adopting a human rights lens for AI governance. However, the regulatory landscape remains fragmented and characterized by Western led initiatives as well as inconsistent enforcement. To address these limitations, a unified and binding international framework is urgently needed.The proposed Convention on AI, Data, and Human Rights (drafted as the "Munich Convention on AI, Data, and Human Rights") is an initiative toward such a framework. Developed with contributions from over 50 global experts, it proposes an international convention to align AI governance with human rights principles. This whitepaper explores the underlying rationale behind the convention, emphasizing its alignment with the norms and principles articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Charter. It examines the relevance of safeguards against AI's misuse in facilitating human rights violations, with particular focus on protecting underrepresented or marginalized groups, including indigenous peoples, and addressing collective rights. It furthermore points to the necessity to codify rights that empower individuals to opt out, be forgotten, seek explanations, and access remedies to maintain adequate human rights standards in the context of AI. The urgency to act arises from the escalating impact of AI and the rapid pace of political and technological advancements. The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is particularly well poised to play a leading role in initiating global discussions on a binding convention for AI governance, grounded in human rights principles. Drawing on its established mandate to uphold human rights globally, the UNHRC has a record of successfully embedding human rights principles into international frameworks, as demonstrated by its endorsement of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. Through dedicated action around promoting a convention on AI and human rights, the UNHRC can foster international consensus and proactively shape the future of AI in a manner that prioritizes the values and principles enshrined in the key documents of international human rights law [p.1].
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Governing AI for humanity : final reportUnited Nations. AI advisory body, 2024-09The United Nations Secretary-General’s High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence (HLAB-AI) released its final report “Governing AI for Humanity” today. It builds on months of extensive global consultations and the publication of an interim report in December 2023. The uniquely diverse Advisory Body is the world’s first and most representative expert group capable of reflecting humanity’s aspirations for AI. This groundbreaking report outlines a blueprint for addressing AI-related risks and sharing its transformative potential globally, including by: • Urging the UN to lay the foundations of the first globally inclusive and distributed architecture for AI governance based on international cooperation; • Proposing seven recommendations to address gaps in current AI governance arrangements; • Calling on all governments and stakeholders to work together in governing AI to foster development and protection of all human rights. (Press release UN Secretary-General’s High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, New York, NY, September 19, 2024).
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AI governance ethics : artificial intelligence with shared values and rulesArtificial Intelligence influences already almost all sectors of society, from production, consumption and recycling of products to education and media, from agriculture to military. The search for AI governance from voluntary standards to international convention and standards is fast and urgent. This book unites contributions of authors from all continents. It also offers a representative collection of official recommendations and guidelines on AI governance from national governments, continental entities like EU and AU to UN-organisations.
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Digital ethics : a teaching handbookThis "Digital Ethics" handbook emphasises ethics in the digital era, targeting educators in higher education. It comprises three main chapters: “Digital Ethics” covers technology-society dynamics, a range of ethical approaches and tools, and contemporary issues such as data ethics, AI ethics, and corporate digital responsibility ; “Teaching Digital Ethics” focuses on a range of teaching methods to foster ethical literacy, encouraging reflection on personal and societal values ; “Ethical Decision Making” explores professional ethics, offering a structured decision-making template and comparing human and AI decision-making. In conclusion, the text recognises the dynamic nature of digital ethics.
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AI as a public good : ensuring democratic control of AI in the information space : policy framework 2024Forum Information & Democracy, 2024-02-28
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Inclusive AI for a better future : policy dialogue reportThis Policy Dialogue Report is aimed at fostering multistakeholder, multidisciplinary, inclusive, and cross-regional dialogue on recent advancements in AI ethics policies and practices. It addresses the gap of independent space to bring together around this topic a) all sectors encompassing public, private and civil society organizations, b) diverse world regions and cultures, and c) multiple disciplines of not only technology and economics but also social sciences and humanities, in addition to warranting meaningful intergenerational participation and gender-sensitive leadership.
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Data ethics : building trust : how digital technologies can serve humanityData is the magic word of the 21st century. As oil in the 20th century and electricity in the 19th century: For citizens, data means support in daily life in almost all activities, from watch to laptop, from kitchen to car, from mobile phone to politics. For business and politics, data means power, dominance, winning the race. Data can be used for good and bad, for services and hacking, for medicine and arms race. How can we build trust in this complex and ambiguous data world? How can digital technologies serve humanity? The 45 articles in this book represent a broad range of ethical reflections and recommendations in eight sections: a) Values, Trust and Law, b) AI, Robots and Humans, c) Health and Neuroscience, d) Religions for Digital Justice, e) Farming, Business, Finance, f) Security, War, Peace, g) Data Governance, Geopolitics, h) Media, Education, Communication. The authors and institutions come from all continents. The book serves as reading material for teachers, students, policy makers, politicians, business, hospitals, NGOs and religious organisations alike. It is an invitation for dialogue, debate and building trust! The book is a continuation of the volume “Cyber Ethics 4.0” published in 2018 by the same editors.
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Ethics and innovation : 10 years WIPO ethics officeWorld Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), 2020
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Ethics roundsBackground:Ethics rounds are one way to support healthcare personnel in handling ethically difficult situations. A previous study in the present project showed that ethics rounds did not result in significant changes in perceptions of how ethical issues were handled, that is, in the ethical climate. However, there was anecdotal evidence that the ethics rounds were viewed as a positive experience and that they stimulated ethical reflection.Aim:The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of how the ethics rounds were experienced and why the intervention in the form of ethics rounds did not succeed in improving the ethical climate for the staff.Research design:An exploratory and descriptive design with a qualitative approach was adopted, using individual interviews.Participants and research context:A total of 11 healthcare personnel, working in two different psychiatry outpatient clinics and with experience of participating in ethics rounds, were interviewed.Ethical considerations:The study was based on informed consent and was approved by one of the Swedish Regional Ethical Review Boards.Findings:The participants were generally positive about the ethics rounds. They had experienced changes by participating in the ethics rounds in the form of being able to see things from different perspectives as well as by gaining insight into ethical issues. However, these changes had not affected daily work.Discussion:A crucial question is whether or not increased reflection ability among the participants is a good enough outcome of ethics rounds and whether this result could have been measured in patient-related outcomes. Ethics rounds might foster cooperation among the staff and this, in turn, could influence patient care.Conclusion:By listening to others during ethics rounds, a person can learn to see things from a new angle. Participation in ethics rounds can also lead to better insight concerning ethical issues.
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Caring for tomorrow’s workforceBackground:Preparing tomorrow’s healthcare workforce for managing the growing complexity of care places high demands on students, educators, and faculties. In the light of worrying data about study-related stress and burnout, understanding how students manage stressors and develop resilience has been identified as a priority topic of research. In addition to study-related stressors, also moral stressors are known to characterize the students’ first clinical experiences.Objectives:However, current debates show that it remains unclear how healthcare ethics education should address them. In order to clarify this issue, this study first develops the notion of moral resilience as a response to moral stressors involving both situations of moral complexity and moral wrongness. Second, it explores the potential of healthcare ethics education in fostering moral resilience. For this purpose, it defines moral resilience operationally as a reduction of moral distress in a given axis of time measured by a validated tool.Research design, participants, and context:The educational transferability was assessed within an explorative, quantitative pre–post interventional study with a purposive sample of 166 nursing students. The educational intervention comprised a lecture introducing the typology of moral stressors. Before and after the lecture, students were presented vignettes depicting morally stressful situations.Ethical considerations:The competent research ethics committee confirmed that no ethical approval was needed. Informed consent was obtained from participants.Findings:Three of four vignettes showed a modest but statistically significant reduction in measured levels of distress after the lecture (p < 0.05, α = 5%).Discussion:The study shows the potential of healthcare ethics education in providing students with transformative knowledge that fosters moral resilience.Conclusion:In times of global scarcity of educational resources, healthcare ethics education has an important contribution to offer in the promotion of students’ mental and physical health by strengthening the knowledge base of moral resilience. This legitimates its costs for societies, faculties, and professional bodies.
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Ethical challenges in care for older patients who resist helpBackground:Situations where patients resist necessary help can be professionally and ethically challenging for health professionals, and the risk of paternalism, abuse and coercion are present.Research question:The purpose of this study was to examine ethical challenges in situations where the patient resists healthcare.Research design:The method used was clinical application research. Academic staff and clinical co-researchers collaborated in a hermeneutical process to shed light on situations and create a basis for new action.Participants and research context:Four research groups were established. Each group consisted of six to eight clinical co-researchers, all employees with different health profession backgrounds and from different parts of the municipal healthcare services, and two scientific researchers.Ethical considerations:The study was conducted in compliance with ethical guidelines and principles. Participants were informed that participation was voluntary and that confidentiality would be maintained. They signed a consent form.Findings:The findings showed that the situations where patients opposed help related to personal hygiene, detention in an institution and medication associated with dental treatment. The situations were perceived as demanding and emotionally stressful for the clinicians.Discussion:The situations can be described as everyday ethics and are more characterised by moral uncertainty and moral distress than by being classic ethical dilemmas.Conclusion:Norwegian legislation governing the use of force seems to provide decision guidance with the potential to reduce uncertainty and moral stress if the clinicians’ legal competence had been greater.
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Evaluating clinical ethics support in mental healthcare: A systematic literature reviewA systematic literature review on evaluation of clinical ethics support services in mental healthcare is presented and discussed. The focus was on (a) forms of clinical ethics support services, (b) evaluation of clinical ethics support services, (c) contexts and participants and (d) results. Five studies were included. The ethics support activities described were moral case deliberations and ethics rounds. Different qualitative and quantitative research methods were utilized. The results show that (a) participants felt that they gained an increased insight into moral issues through systematic reflection; (b) there was improved cooperation among multidisciplinary team members; (c) it was uncertain whether clinical ethics support services led to better patient care; (d) the issue of patient and client participation is complex; and (e) the implementation process is challenging. Clinical ethics support services have mainly been studied through the experiences of the participating facilitators and healthcare professionals. Hence, there is limited knowledge of whether and how various types of clinical ethics support services influence the quality of care and how patients and relatives may evaluate clinical ethics support services. Based on the six excluded ‘grey zone articles’, in which there was an implicit focus on ethics reflection, other ways of working with ethical reflection in practice are discussed. Implementing and evaluating clinical ethics support services as approaches to clinical ethics support that are more integrated into the development of good practice are in focus. In order to meet some of the shortcomings of the field of clinical ethics support services, a research project that aims to strengthen ethics support in the mental health services, including patients’ and caregivers’ views on ethical challenges, is presented.
