Yuca Observatory of AI from Latam and the Global South

"Sir, should I feel guilty for using AI?"

01.12.2024 

This question is extremely important because of (1) the simple and yet daring way it was asked, and (2) who asked: a high school student from Indonesia, but also (3) the spontaneous context in which the teenager prompt me to reflect on the #ethics of #AI.

Last week I had the opportunity to teach a session on use of AI in #schools. I was invited to talk to two classes of high school students in the city of Surabaya, #Indonesia. While I generally teach University students and with a more #academic point of view, I took up the challenge to adapt the content, more pragmatic and focus on the dos and don'ts. Now mind that I normally go strong on ethics and the #sociotechnical aspects of AI in my academic classes, that is all the things about #bias, #discrimination, #copyright, use of #resources and exploitation of #labour, but I was suggested to go a bit lighter with the teenagers.

Yet, the question took me aback, because here I was facing the very element that underpins my research: that the children and teenagers have their own perspectives of #responsible artificial intelligence - like a sense of guilty, and I did not know what to answer.

My whole line of thought is to be enthusiast and yet very #critical of these AItechnologies. Foster technological development but resist oppressive practices. However, I never came accross the word "guilty" in my research and presentations before, and thinking from the point of view of adolescents, it makes a lot of sense. There is much more #uncertainty about their #future than from ours. They are the ones that will take climate change and the weight of AI revolution upfront. Living in a present with extreme weather and precarious jobs, why should you embrace one of the very sources of these transformations? Isn't enabling the practices that we should fight against it?

Although I then explained some of the bits of ethics I normally teach, I then referred back to him, that one of the best things he could do is to ask this question, because I am sure every developer, lawyer, ethicist or anyone that thinks responsible AI will be launched to a different dimension of thought

That is one of the joys of working and listening to the young people, after all they are also the ones that are exploring these technologies, especially Generative AI, in ways we could never imagine. The concept of guilty is also worthy exploring - should we consider a generational feeling of liminality about the adoption of AI?

I thought about all these questions while exploring my drawing skills below, representing the one teenager that asked me the question. I found this is a useful manner not only to raise attention to the issue but also to reflect on our practices through artistic approaches. Nevertheless, I hope to explore more of this in the future.

But what do you think?