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Conceptual Clarity

Recommendation: Use appropriate and clear definitions of AI and digital technology

What is the problem?

The term ‘AI’ is scientifically contested. Ethical and human rights issues are often not directly linked to AI in a narrow sense. Specific technologies (e.g. machine learning, deep neural networks; reinforcement learning) can have properties leading to concerns that are not relevant to other technologies. For example, machine learning using deep neural networks requires large training datasets which can raise issues of data protection and security, but may also perpetuate biases that are contained in the datasets.

Who should act?

All bodies developing policies and guidelines for ethical or trustworthy AI, including the European Commission, national governments, standardisation bodies.

What is the recommendation?

Clearly define the scope of AI in each use context with regards to relevant issues.

Where appropriate replace 'AI' with more specific terms, such as ‘machine learning’.

Some issues such as changes to employment, political and economic power distribution are only peripherally linked to AI and when addressing them it may be more appropriate to use inclusive terms such as 'emerging digital technology'.
Other issues (e.g. autonomy of machines) are already well understood and categorised (see the taxonomy of levels of autonomy in vehicles), which may help develop similar categorisations in other application domains.

Key considerations

Use a concept of AI that points to the features of the technology that are ethically relevant, such as opacity (can hide bias) or automation (replaces jobs). Characteristics or examples may be more helpful than definitions.

The concepts used influence the scope of technology in question but also the responses (e.g. scope of a risk or impact assessment).

Whichever concept of technology is used, the ethical and human rights implications depend heavily on the application area. Machine learning, for example, may have very different consequences in healthcare and in gaming.

Other concepts

The focus of this recommendation is on the definition of technology. However, conceptual clarity is required for other concepts as well. If the focus is on ethical issues of AI, then the concept of ethics needs to be clearly understood. Human flourishing is a useful term to highlight ethical ideas but there are many other ethical positions worthy of considerations.

Human rights are outlined in various legal documents including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention of Human Rights.

SHERPA contribution

SHERPA's work on case studies and scenarios has informed the categorisation of AI in terms of narrow AI (machine learning), converging socio-technical systems and artificial general intelligence. This is one definition that can help delimit ethical and human rights issues.