Ethics before data ethics

Introduction to Data Ethics

Shalini Kurapati, PhD

Co-founder and CEO, Clearbox AI

What is ethics?

Illustration of a person's hand weighing right and wrong decisions

  • Greek word ethos - way of life
  • Moral philosophy branch, standards for right and wrong behavior
  • Set of standards, rules, values
  • Sense of right and wrong beyond laws- e.g. respecting others, offering a seat
  • Guide decisions and actions- food, work, politicians
1 Icon made by iconixer from www.flaticon.com
Introduction to Data Ethics

Why study ethics

Illustration of two opposing sign boards in an ocean representing the complexity of ethical decision making, no attribution required.

  • Decision making is not black and white
  • Ethical dilemmas
    • Friendship vs. professional integrity
Introduction to Data Ethics

Innovation vs. affordable medicine

Photo of tubes and a pink pipette in a pharma lab setting.

  • Ethical dilemmas
    • Pharma innovation vs. unaffordable medicine
  • Impact on others
    • Individual vs. societal benefits
    • Financial market dynamics, climate change
1 Photo by Louis Reed on Unsplash
Introduction to Data Ethics

Ethics everywhere

Photo of a torn poster on a wall with ethical declarations.

  • Related to laws, rights, dignity, civilization
  • Unknown impact of progress- powerful technologies
1 Photo by George Pagan III on Unsplash
Introduction to Data Ethics

Ethics of technology and innovation

Illustration of innovation and progress represented by lights and gears.

  • Risks, benefits, impact of new technologies
  • Responsible use of technologies
  • E.g. Stem cell research, drone warfare
  • Data is the game changer
1 Icon made by geotatah from www.flaticon.com
Introduction to Data Ethics

The data economy- is data the new oil?

Illustration from the Economist magazine about the claim that data is the new oil with tech company logos attached to oil rig like structures.

  • Oil and energy companies most valuable in the 20th century, replaced by data-driven tech companies in the 21st century

  • Massive data 90% created in the past 5 years, endless applications

1 https://www.economist.com/leaders/2017/05/06/the-worlds-most-valuable-resource-is-no-longer-oil-but-data 2 https://www.visceralbusiness.com/latest-news/ten-years-digital-transformation
Introduction to Data Ethics

Data drives (almost) every innovation and application

Collage of applications driven by data.

  • Data-driven innovation in the 21st century
  • Social media, smart devices, cloud, AI
  • Economic growth, societal progress
  • Great power, great responsibility- data ethics
1 https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/strategy-data
Introduction to Data Ethics

Data ethics

Image of a balance scale placed on top of data storage volumes to represent data ethics.

  • Branch of ethics that studies moral problems related to data
  • Ethics is wide-ranging
  • Decisions, value, impact
  • Data ethics focus on processing, sharing, use, application of data

Data ethics foundations

  • Privacy and data protection
  • Informed consent, individuals rights and agency
  • Transparency and trust
  • Fairness, non-discrimination
  • Accountability and oversight
  • Benefit to others and society
1 Mittelstadt, B. D. (2019). Principles alone cannot guarantee ethical AI. Nature Machine Intelligence, 1(11), 501-507. 2 Icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com
Introduction to Data Ethics

Let's practice!

Introduction to Data Ethics

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