The Ethics of technology and artificial intelligence has become an omitting subject in today’s time but it is a worrisome aspect of the scientific world. High tech tools have become an inextricable part of our regular life.
Be it the alarm clock to start our day or advance complex rockets to explore our universe, we all are surrounded by technologies from smallest to larger things in our life.
Technologies are intended to make human lives easier and better, but there are always two approaches, negative approach and positive approach, towards anything to deal with.
Technologies are also bound with these limitations, if it is used in a positive way, it can create miracles for humans but if it will be used in negative ways, the same technologies can bring a gross devastation and destruction upon human lives.
Therefore the ethics of technology and artificial intelligence has become a need of the hour, to understand the great responsibility towards it.
Let’s understand why Ethics is neede for Technology and Artificial Intelligence.
1. The Digital Data Registration
As technology is becoming advanced day by day, our reliance on technology is also increasing accordingly. We are trying to minimise the paper use in our regular important works like data storage, to ease and shorten the processing process.
The work which used to take a lot of manual labour and time to know even the smallest information, now we have digital data storage technology for that by which one can get any information just by a single click.
1.1. Social Media Apps and Websites
Today we have several social media apps and websites on which knowingly or unknowingly we provide our data. They register each and every activity which we do on these apps and websites along with the timings.
Today we have apps for each and every work. When we have to start our day with Tea or coffee, we open our grocery app and order tea, coffee or milk.
When we have to go outside we open our cabapp and book cabs, when we feel hungry we order food from food app, when we get bored we watch series on app or listen to music on apps, when we need to talk we open a chat app and start chatting to our friends, for even small to smallest things we are dependent on these service apps.
These apps register each and every moment and details which also include personal details also like house address, phone number, email number etc. In Fact, we store our important passwords in such apps.
1.2. The Digilocker Initiative of India
Under the Digital India Mission, India has launched the Digilocker (digital locker) initiative, in which all the seminal information about Indian citizens could be stored in a digital locker. People will get the password and only they would have the access to their information.
In the Digilocker one can store authentic and original copies of their important documents such as aadhar card, driving licence, pan card, important papers like property papers and will, health insurance etc.
The government has claimed it to be a safe digital locker which helps you access your documents whenever and wherever you require them for authentication.
1.3. Vulnerability of Data Security
Technologies are becoming an inseparable part of humans’ personal and professional life. Today our smartphones and computers have become more important for us than anything else, because they contain every bit of information about our life.
The digital platform of advanced modern technologies are used to collect most confidential data, as they are considered to be plausible for secure data storage.
On one hand if technologies are stronger security leads, on the other hand it is also vulnerable as security passwords and locks can be breached by hackers.
The advancement in technologies are also used by the people to satisfy their negative intentions towards other people. Everyday in the newspaper we can witness such news of frauds which are done by the help of technology.
1.4. Privacy Breach
As all Personal and sensitive details are stored or registered in some or the other digital platform, it can be accessed by the authorities of the digital platform or the workers involved maintaining our data on these platforms.
They can read all the momentum of what we like, what we see and even what we converse with others, not only these, they also can have access to all our texts which consist of confidential data like bank account number, adhar number or even OTP.
Even it is not safe under so-called security locks as it can be decoded by the hackers. Therefore our personal privacy is highly prone to be breached.
1.5. Data Theft
Data is a power nowadays. Person with accurate and precise data can rule the whole world today. In just one scan, we have the secrets of the whole world or any person sitting on the other side of the world.
Our data is more prone to theft than our precious jewelleries kept in the safe locker. Data makes powerful to anyone who can have access to it, but how it is being used, is more important as power can transform a barren land into a green garden or it can destroy even a heaven like world.
1.6. Financial Frauds
Technologies and Artificial Intelligence are used to carry out many frauds, financial frauds are one of them.
This is the most common fraud which takes place in many different ways. For example fraudsters make fraud calls, and do fake texts to ask OTPs and take away all the money of the common people who earn the money with their blood and sweat.
Though the government has taken actions, all the measures are surpassed by the fraudsters.
It depicts the higher need to create more stringent security technologies to tackle such types of digital injustice against common people.
2. Increment in Terrorism
Terrorism has become a global issue of concern as only common people suffer under this mechanism. It is about to spread an environment of terror all around and make the people do what these terrorists want them to do.
The terrorist groups commonly have their common shared ideologies and adversaries, and to spread their ideologies they used the way of immense violence.
They carry out several violent activities such as bomb blasts in public places to frighten the public and the authorities.
Technology has given its contribution towards increasing terrorism. Governments of all the countries all around the world are using modern specialised technologies to take measures against terrorism but such advanced technologies are available for terrorists also.
They used better and advanced technologies for the terrorism to create special gazettes and bombs for the terrorist activities.
Technologies have also facilitated the way for the people who promote terrorism by funding it as through technologies like UPI one can transfer any amount of money to any bank account. These very thoughts are depicting the scarcity of ethics and morality.
Be it the 9/11 attack on the United States or 26/11 attack on India’s Taj hotel in Mumbai, terrorism has thrown a big concern before the world. Along with the United nation, there is a need to bring all the countries on a single platform and make a strong strategy towards this concerning issue.
3. Threat to Nation’s Integrity
If we join all the above links, we will get a big picture of a concerning threat to a Nation’s security. The citizens are the priority of the nation therefore their rights, justice, ease of life are the utmost concern of the government.
Government is also relying on these technologies to store their most confidential and crucial data related to the nation’s security and integrity.
Data about confidential deals, defence strategies, weapon mechanism, some sensitive and vulnerable information about the nation state, some important and confidential security passcodes,etc. can be counted under the radar of crucial data which are stored by using the most advanced technical mechanism and kept in utmost priority.
The cyber security can be breach by using headway technologies and artificial intelligence, adversary nations can invade a nation’s integrity and security.
They can access the topmost secrets of any nation, and can take advantage of the vulnerabilities of the nation.
The other way of the nation’s integrity threat, is not having an ethical and moral attitude towards one’s own nation as these confidential and secret datas of a nation can be sold to another adversary nation by stacking the lives of all the innocent people, in the greed of immense wealth.
4. Importance of Ethics of Technology and Artificial Intelligence
Technologies are there to ease human survival, not to make it difficult. In modern times, technologies are used in many negative ways, creating a kind of threat environment.
Today people are suspicious of even a small text as it can be a fraud text. Why is it happening? Why are people using such charismatic technologies in these cynical ways? Is it for the need, lust or glory?
Well, the answer is the lack of morals and ethics. There could be innumerable reasons to effectuate such crimes, but if a person is bound with internal morals and ethics, they would never perform such acts of hurting others in any way.
“Science is important but so is Ethics. To destroy life to save life- it’s one of the real ethical dilemmas that we face”, said by the U.S. former president George W Bush, conveying the significance of ethics of technology and artificial intelligence.
The right decision can be taken by the strong value of ethics.
5. Future of Ethics of Technology and Artificial Intelligence
By having a potent ethical value, the world can be transmuted to a safe, happy and equal place for all.
The topic of Ethics of technology and Artificial Intelligence has a lot of potential for a better future with ethical and moral values.
The higher institutions of science and technology should include lessons of ethics of technology and artificial intelligence in their pedagogy and should make students understand what change it makes in their technology and research field and why it is being taught to them.
The ethics of technology and artificial intelligence will further help in innovating and inventing progressive technologies and techniques with an ethical approach.
We can estimate it to have ethics in technologies itself, which are customized in a certain way that they are able to detect any fraud or fake intentional requests and tackle it by its effective defensive techniques.
It should be much more compatible that it should be accessible easily for the right owners and impossible to get access for fraudsters.
Furthermore, the ethics of technology and artificial intelligence can be included in the regime of AI.
An ethical system could be transplanted in technical gazettes and innovations. The ethical system which would be used in these technologies should be sensitized by the strong ethical codes and moral voices which we have in humans as our inner voice.
To create such an Ethical system, we humans should start from ourselves as Gandhi ji said “Be the change that you want to see in the world.”
There is a need to create a strict base of ethics in human beings especially in today’s time. Ethics is not a thing to be taught, rather it needs to be cultivated in humans’ regular lives so that it doesn’t seem like a thing to follow but it becomes our habit, which we can perform even without being aware of its influence on us.
Only if we would be greatly influenced by a thing, could we create things which are having the same influence.
That’s why it is first and foremost important for us to understand the importance of ethics of technology and artificial intelligence and then depict the same values in our inventions and innovations, so that our development couldn’t prove to be the reason for our destruction by our own hands.
6. Conclusion
In a sum up, technologies are touching anf recreating new extent and boundaries of the world and creating new space for modern ways of survival by its constant exploration.
The same technologies which humans have created to make their life easier, are now becoming a modern cause of troubles in the humans’ lives.
As it is being used for human’s lust, selfishness, rivalry and destruction. The lack of Ethical values making it happen, therefore there is a grave need of Ethical understanding and ethics of technology and Artificial Intelligence.
To understand the importance of responsibilities towards the right use of such technologies, there should be strong base of ethics of technology and artificial intelligence.
Last Updated on November 14, 2023 by ayeshayusuf
