The Ethics, Technology, and Human Interaction Center (ETHICx) – pronounced “ethics” — will advance ethics-in-technology-centered research, education, and engagement at the Georgia Institute of Technology in collaboration with communities, government, non-governmental organizations, and industry. The Center was launched by the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and the College of Computing with generous seed funding from the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research.
ETHICx Related Projects at Georgia Tech
AI Manufacturing, Ethics, and Policy
ETHICx is supporting the Georgia Artificial Intelligence Manufacturing Technology Corridor (GA-AIM), which received a $65-million grant
from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to support a statewide initiative that combines artificial intelligence and manufacturing innovations with transformational workforce and outreach programs. Justin Biddle and Philip Shapira are leading a team to facilitate the early identification and management of potential ethical and societal consequences of AI-enabled manufacturing systems.
National AI Institute for Adult Learning and Online Education (AI-ALOE)
ETHICx is supporting AI-ALOE, which received a $20-million grant
from the National Science Foundation to transform online adult learning. Michael Hoffmann is chairing the team “Participatory Design for Human Well-Being,” which works to ensure that all AI technologies developed by the Institute are designed in a way that takes the well-being of users, unintended users, and stakeholders into account. Through user and stakeholder engagement, the Participatory Design Team gives a voice in the design process to those who will be affected by the AI-ALOE technologies.
National AI Institute for Advances in Optimization (AI4OPT)
ETHICx is supporting AI4OPT, which aims to deliver a paradigm shift in automated decision making at massive scales by fusing AI and Mathematical Optimization (MO), to achieve breakthroughs that neither field can achieve independently. The Institute is supported by a $20-million grant
from the National Science Foundation. ETHICx is supporting AI4OPT in its efforts to incorporate ethics and values into the design of optimization systems from the start, rather than as an afterthought. Dan Molzahn and Justin Biddle are co-leads of the Ethical AI Thrust.
Ethical and Responsible Design in the National AI Institutes
In May 2023, the Georgia Tech Ethics, Technology, and Human Interaction Center organized the Conference on Ethical and Responsible Design in the National AI Institutes. Representatives from the National AI Research Institutes that had been established as of January 2023 were invited to attend; researchers representing 14 Institutes attended and participated. The conference focused on three questions: What are the main challenges that the National AI Institutes are facing with regard to the responsible design of AI systems? What are promising lines of inquiry to address these challenges? What are possible points of collaboration? Over the course of the conference, a revised version of the first question became a focal point: What are the challenges that the Institutes face in identifying ethical and responsible design practices and in implementing them in the AI development process? This document summarizes the challenges that representatives from the Institutes in attendance highlighted.