Ethical behavior and artificial intelligence

Semester

Semester 2, 2023-2024

Type of course

Theory-oriented Workshops

Date

March 27, 2024

Location

Utrecht University

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Duration

1 day

Maximum number of participants

24

ECTS

0.5 EC will be appointed for participation in the complete course

Staff

Margarita Leib (TiU), Nils Kobis (Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Center for Humans and Machines)

Content

This 1-day workshop introduces KLI PhD-students to the behavioral ethics literature, and recent work on behavioral ethics and Artificial intelligence. In the morning session the instructors will (1) present theory and discuss the experimental approach of behavioral ethics, and (2) cover recent work that examines ethical behavior in interaction with Artificial intelligence. In the afternoon session, students will work in teams of maximum 6 students (under the supervision of the teachers), to develop a research question and experimental design, inspired by work on ethical behavior and artificial intelligence. Groups will present their ideas to the class at the end of the day. There might be opportunities carry out the proposed research after the workshop, with the guidance of the supervisors.

Learning goals

After finishing this workshop students will be able to: 

(1) Explain key theoretical approaches to studying ethical behavior; 

(2) Describe and utilize the main tools and methods used to experimentally study ethical behavior

(3) Describe and utilize the machine behavior approach

(4) Describe recent work on ethical behavior and artificial intelligence  

(5) Collaborate in a group, formulating a research question and designing an experiment related to ethical behavior and artificial intelligence 

Preparation

In preparation for the workshop, students are asked to read the papers mentioned below. The papers aimed to familiarize students with the behavioral ethics and machine behavior approach (papers 1 & 2) and showcase two examples of how general ethical behavior in the field (paper 3) are human-AI interactions (paper 4) are studied. 

Literature (1-3 compulsory, 4 is optional)

1. Shalvi, S., Gino, F., Barkan, R., & Ayal, S. (2015). Self-serving justifications: Doing wrong and feeling moral. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(2), 125-130.

2. Köbis, N., Bonnefon, J. F., & Rahwan, I. (2021). Bad machines corrupt good morals. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(6), 679-685.

3. Cohn, A., Maréchal, M. A., Tannenbaum, D., & Zünd, C. L. (2019). Civic honesty around the globe. Science, 365(6448), 70-73.

4. Noy, S., & Zhang, W. (2023). Experimental evidence on the productivity effects of generative artificial intelligence. Available at SSRN 4375283.