As AI transforms human society, new ethical questions continue to arise. Should there be a right to decisions by humans in certain domains? Can AI-based tools facilitate democracy? Has the age of artificial intelligence created the need for new human rights?
Hélène Landemore, professor of political science and faculty fellow with Yale’s Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS), will seek to answer these questions and more during a three-year project made possible by an award from Schmidt Future’s AI2050 Program. This philanthropic initiative, established by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, aims to support exceptional people working on key opportunities and solutions to hard problems that are critical to ensure society benefits from AI.
Landemore will work in partnership with John Tasioulas, director of the Institute for Ethics of AI at Oxford University. Tasioulas and Landemore are experts, respectively, in the theory of human rights and democracy. A key part of their research will involve engaging with the ways in which developments in AI technology relate to these two core values. The development of a humanistic ethic is intended to serve as a counterweight to the dominance of data-driven and quantitative conceptions of ethics in the AI field.