Analysis Of Opinion: Can Artificial Intelligence Be Ethical? By Peter Singer

In the article “Opinion: Can artificial intelligence be ethical?” published by Project Syndicate, professor Peter Singer tries to persuade his readers that with how AI has progressed, with its advantages and its unknowns, it could result in immoral consequences so we have to try to teach machines how to behave ethically. Singer states that “AlphaGo was designed to win by playing a huge number of games against other programs and adopting the best strategies that proved successful” (par. 3) saying that the computer program was able to surpass human talent in the game Go in a matter of a few years even though the game Go had “more possible moves than there are atoms in the universe” (par. 2). Singer reasons that although this machine worked out
In the article “Opinion: Can artificial intelligence be ethical?” Singer states that a computer program called AlphaGo was designed to win the game Go by improving on strategies adopted from playing a lot of games against other players. AlphaGo, the computer program, was able to surpass human talent in the game Go in a matter of a few years even though the game Go had “more possible moves than there are atoms in the universe” (Singer par. 2). Since that artificial intelligence machine could achieve and surpass the level of intelligence and talent of a human in much less time then it would take a human, it shows that with time other AI machines could help humans achieve things that would be impossible with only the talent and life span of humans. Having an AI that can act ethically, without worries that it will turn suicidal, depressed, or any other mental health issue that a human has, while still acting in a way that is in the interest of humans could help humans to overcome those problems and prevent them in the future. As the advancement of artificial intelligence grows more and more close to making machines for everything, families should be concerned about how they will act and what they will do for the future generation of their
Most researchers of artificial intelligence say that AI is unlikely to show emotions considered to be human like hate or love that spurs humans to make bad or hurtful decisions. So, without these emotions AI is unlikely to act in dangerous manners. One situation could occur where the AI’s are programmed to help you but it can do it in a manner that humans find dangerous. The problem that Singer hints at is that if an artificial intelligence surpasses the intelligence of a human, we don’t know if it will decide that it doesn’t want to be turned off and because it is more intelligent than a human, then it could not be turned off by a human (par. 6). Teaching AI to act ethically can help make sure that AI actions are aligned with human interests. The article “Benefits and Risks of Artificial Intelligence” provides a fact that while humans worry that AI will just turn “evil” what will really happen is that AI will be capable but just have goals that are misaligned with humans. This just strengthens the fact that in the time it takes to turn AI into a reality, we must find a way to teach them how to act ethically without turning “evil” or