Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI)

  1. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have made possible the creation of
    “deepfakes”, audiovisual content that shows a particular person saying and doing
    things, which they did not.
    Clearly, such technology can, and has been used for criminal activities – see the first
    attachment (“Fraudsters used AI…”). The second attachment argues, though, that
    making deepfakes is unethical, whether or not they are used to commit a criminal
    act (“The deepfake artists must be stopped…”).
    Is it unethical to construct a deepfake of a person without their permission, even
    when it is not used to commit a crime? Why or why not?
  2. Artificial intelligence has, in just the last few years, been transformed from an area
    of mostly academic interest into a significant source of business profit and
    government investment. In some cases (first attachment: “AI Startup Boom Raises
    Questions…”) businesses seem to have exaggerated the extent to which their
    operations depend on AI, and are instead relying on human labour, so as to attract
    investment.
    The second attachment (“This AI Startup…”) provides many more examples of these
    exaggerations, and notes contexts in which human labour is doing tasks that we
    might be more comfortable assigning to computers.
    Is it unethical to mislead a customer, investor, or others about the extent to which
    labour involved in the provision of a good or service is done by people instead of
    AI? Why or why not?
    In answering the questions, please apply the method of philosophical analysis.

Sample Solution