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41Smart Cities: Reviewing the Debate About Their Ethical ImplicationsIn Francesca Mazzi (ed.), The 2022 Yearbook of the Digital Governance Research Group, Springer Nature Switzerland. pp. 11-38. 2023.This paper considers a host of definitions and labels attached to the concept of smart cities to identify four dimensions that ground a review of ethical concerns emerging from the current debate. These are: (1) network infrastructure, with the corresponding concerns of control, surveillance, and data privacy and ownership; (2) post-political governance, embodied in the tensions between public and private decision-making and cities as post-political entities; (3) social inclusion, expressed in t…Read more
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9Saving Human Lives and Rights: Recommendations for Protecting Human Rights When Adopting COVID-19 Vaccine PassportsIn Francesca Mazzi (ed.), The 2022 Yearbook of the Digital Governance Research Group, Springer Nature Switzerland. pp. 117-130. 2023.The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused social and economic devastation. As the milestone of two years of ‘living with the virus’ approaches, governments and businesses are attempting to develop means of reopening society whilst still protecting public health. However, developing interventions – particularly technological interventions – that find a safe, socially acceptable, and ethically justifiable balance between these two seemingly opposing demands is extremely challenging. There is n…Read more
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10How to Counter Moral Evil: Paideia and NomosIn Francesca Mazzi (ed.), The 2022 Yearbook of the Digital Governance Research Group, Springer Nature Switzerland. pp. 5-9. 2023.In this short article, I argue that (a) the distinction between what counts as natural and moral evil is not fixed; that (b) science and technology can transform natural evil into moral evil; that (c) two main philosophical anthropologies explain moral evil as due to ignorance (Socrates) or wickedness (Hobbes); and hence that (d) a society that seeks to counter evil should rely on science and technology to transform natural evil into moral evil and then on education (Paideia) and regulations (No…Read more
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16Introduction: Understanding the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence for the Sustainable Development GoalsIn Francesca Mazzi & Luciano Floridi (eds.), The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence for the Sustainable Development Goals, Springer Verlag. pp. 3-7. 2023.Artificial intelligence (AI) as a general-purpose technology has great potential for advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the AI×SDGs phenomenon is still in its infancy in terms of diffusion, analysis, and empirical evidence. Moreover, a scalable adoption of AI solutions to advance the achievement of the SDGs requires private and public actors to engage in coordinated actions that have been analysed only partially so far. This volume provides the first over…Read more
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22AI in Support of the SDGs: Six Recurring Challenges and Related Opportunities Identified Through Use CasesIn Francesca Mazzi & Luciano Floridi (eds.), The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence for the Sustainable Development Goals, Springer Verlag. pp. 9-33. 2023.This chapter provides an overview of six topics related to governance, ethical, legal, and social implications of artificial intelligence (AI) for sustainable development goals (SDGs) initiatives. We identified six common challenges and related opportunities to mitigate such challenges, as referred to by the authors analysing the chapters provided in the book The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence for the Sustainable Development Goals. They are (1) governance and collaboration, (2) private invest…Read more
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37The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence for the Sustainable Development Goals (edited book)Springer Verlag. 2023.This volume provides an extensive overview of the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence for the Sustainable Development Goals. The authors are experts contributing with perspectives from different fields. The comprehensive collection of chapters illustrates the pressing governance problems related to using AI for the SDGs, and case studies describing how AI is advancing and can advance the achievement of the Goals. Students, scholars, and practitioners working on AI for SDGs, the ethical governance …Read more
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316Trump, Parler, and regulating the infosphere as our commonsPhilosophy and Technology 34 (1). 2021.Following the storming of the US Capitol building, Donald Trump became digitally toxic, and was deplatformed from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube—as well as a host of other social media networks. Subsequent debate has centred on the questions of whether these companies did the right thing and the possible ramifications of their actions for the future of digital societies along with their democratic organisation. This article seeks to answer this question through examining complex, and…Read more
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818A defence of constructionism: philosophy as conceptual engineeringMetaphilosophy 42 (3): 282-304. 2011.This article offers an account and defence of constructionism, both as a metaphilosophical approach and as a philosophical methodology, with references to the so-called maker's knowledge tradition. Its main thesis is that Plato's “user's knowledge” tradition should be complemented, if not replaced, by a constructionist approach to philosophical problems in general and to knowledge in particular. Epistemic agents know something when they are able to build (reproduce, simulate, model, construct, e…Read more
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986AI Risk Assessment: A Scenario-Based, Proportional Methodology for the AI ActDigital Society 3 (13): 1-29. 2024.The EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) defines four risk categories for AI systems: unacceptable, high, limited, and minimal. However, it lacks a clear methodology for the assessment of these risks in concrete situations. Risks are broadly categorized based on the application areas of AI systems and ambiguous risk factors. This paper suggests a methodology for assessing AI risk magnitudes, focusing on the construction of real-world risk scenarios. To this scope, we propose to integrate the AIA…Read more
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740Taking AI Risks Seriously: a New Assessment Model for the AI ActAI and Society 38 (3): 1-5. 2023.The EU proposal for the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) defines four risk categories: unacceptable, high, limited, and minimal. However, as these categories statically depend on broad fields of application of AI, the risk magnitude may be wrongly estimated, and the AIA may not be enforced effectively. This problem is particularly challenging when it comes to regulating general-purpose AI (GPAI), which has versatile and often unpredictable applications. Recent amendments to the compromise text,…Read more
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16The Green and the Blue: A New Political Ontology for a Mature Information SocietyIn Luciano Floridi & Jörg Noller (eds.), The Green and the Blue: Digital Politics in Philosophical Discussion, Verlag Karl Alber. pp. 9-52. 2022.
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Replies to Broy, Gabriel, Grunwald, Hagengruber, Kriebitz, Lütge, Max, Misselhorn, and RehbeinIn Thomas Buchheim, Volker Gerhardt, Matthias Lutz-Bachmann, Isabelle Mandrella, Pirmin Stekeler-Weithofer & Wilhelm Vossenkuhl (eds.), Philosophisches Jahrbuch 2/2021, Verlag Karl Alber. pp. 378-393. 2021.
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27Correction to: The Switch, the Ladder, and the Matrix: Models for Classifying AI SystemsMinds and Machines 33 (1): 249-249. 2023.
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352AI as Agency Without Intelligence: on ChatGPT, Large Language Models, and Other Generative ModelsPhilosophy and Technology 36 (1): 1-7. 2023.
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22The Green and the Blue: Digital Politics in Philosophical Discussion (edited book)Verlag Karl Alber. 2022.Wie kann Europa politisch und gesellschaftlich durch die Möglichkeiten der Digitalisierung profitieren und seine Krisen überwinden, von denen es in der letzten Zeit so geplagt wurde? Wie kann es ein „Humanprojekt“ und die Einheit von „grüner“ Ökologie und „blauer“ Informationstechnik realisieren? In diesem Band präsentiert Luciano Floridi eine Zusammenfassung seiner Thesen, wie sich die Digitalisierung ganz konkret auf politische und soziale Phänomene auswirkt, und wie nun weniger die Dinge als …Read more
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60The AI gambit: leveraging artificial intelligence to combat climate change—opportunities, challenges, and recommendationsAI and Society 38 (1): 283-307. 2023.In this article, we analyse the role that artificial intelligence (AI) could play, and is playing, to combat global climate change. We identify two crucial opportunities that AI offers in this domain: it can help improve and expand current understanding of climate change, and it can contribute to combatting the climate crisis effectively. However, the development of AI also raises two sets of problems when considering climate change: the possible exacerbation of social and ethical challenges alr…Read more
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19Open source intelligence and AI: a systematic review of the GELSI literatureAI and Society 1-16. forthcoming.Today, open source intelligence (OSINT), i.e., information derived from publicly available sources, makes up between 80 and 90 percent of all intelligence activities carried out by Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) and intelligence services in the West. Developments in data mining, machine learning, visual forensics and, most importantly, the growing computing power available for commercial use, have enabled OSINT practitioners to speed up, and sometimes even automate, intelligence collection and …Read more
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32The Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights: In Search of Enaction, at Risk of InactionMinds and Machines 33 (2): 285-292. 2023.The US is promoting a new vision of a “Good AI Society” through its recent AI Bill of Rights. This offers a promising vision of community-oriented equity unique amongst peer countries. However, it leaves the door open for potential rights violations. Furthermore, it may have some federal impact, but it is non-binding, and without concrete legislation, the private sector is likely to ignore it.
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69The Switch, the Ladder, and the Matrix: Models for Classifying AI SystemsMinds and Machines 33 (1): 221-248. 2023.Organisations that design and deploy artificial intelligence (AI) systems increasingly commit themselves to high-level, ethical principles. However, there still exists a gap between principles and practices in AI ethics. One major obstacle organisations face when attempting to operationalise AI Ethics is the lack of a well-defined material scope. Put differently, the question to which systems and processes AI ethics principles ought to apply remains unanswered. Of course, there exists no univers…Read more
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67Artificial intelligence in support of the circular economy: ethical considerations and a path forwardAI and Society 1-14. forthcoming.The world’s current model for economic development is unsustainable. It encourages high levels of resource extraction, consumption, and waste that undermine positive environmental outcomes. Transitioning to a circular economy (CE) model of development has been proposed as a sustainable alternative. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a crucial enabler for CE. It can aid in designing robust and sustainable products, facilitate new circular business models, and support the broader infrastructures need…Read more
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Perception and testimony as data providersIn Fidelia Ibekwe-SanJuan & Thomas Mark Dousa (eds.), Theories of information, communication and knowledge: a multidisciplinary approach, Springer. 2014.
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3The Ethics of Biomedical Big Data (edited book)Imprint: Springer. 2016.This book presents cutting edge research on the new ethical challenges posed by biomedical Big Data technologies and practices. 'Biomedical Big Data' refers to the analysis of aggregated, very large datasets to improve medical knowledge and clinical care. The book describes the ethical problems posed by aggregation of biomedical datasets and re-use/re-purposing of data, in areas such as privacy, consent, professionalism, power relationships, and ethical governance of Big Data platforms. Approach…Read more
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27Group Privacy: New Challenges of Data Technologies (edited book)Imprint: Springer. 2017.The goal of the book is to present the latest research on the new challenges of data technologies. It will offer an overview of the social, ethical and legal problems posed by group profiling, big data and predictive analysis and of the different approaches and methods that can be used to address them. In doing so, it will help the reader to gain a better grasp of the ethical and legal conundrums posed by group profiling. The volume first maps the current and emerging uses of new data technologi…Read more
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5Replies to Broy, Gabriel, Grunwald, Hagengruber, Kriebitz, Lütge, Max, Misselhorn, and RehbeinPhilosophisches Jahrbuch 128 (2): 378-393. 2021.
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96The epistemological foundations of data science: a critical reviewSynthese 200 (6): 1-27. 2022.The modern abundance and prominence of data have led to the development of “data science” as a new field of enquiry, along with a body of epistemological reflections upon its foundations, methods, and consequences. This article provides a systematic analysis and critical review of significant open problems and debates in the epistemology of data science. We propose a partition of the epistemology of data science into the following five domains: (i) the constitution of data science; (ii) the kind…Read more
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68Meta’s Oversight Board: A Review and Critical AssessmentMinds and Machines 33 (2): 261-284. 2023.Since the announcement and establishment of the Oversight Board (OB) by the technology company Meta as an independent institution reviewing Facebook and Instagram’s content moderation decisions, the OB has been subjected to scholarly scrutiny ranging from praise to criticism. However, there is currently no overarching framework for understanding the OB’s various strengths and weaknesses. Consequently, this article analyses, organises, and supplements academic literature, news articles, and Meta …Read more
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29Smart cities: reviewing the debate about their ethical implicationsAI and Society 1-16. forthcoming.This paper considers a host of definitions and labels attached to the concept of smart cities to identify four dimensions that ground a review of ethical concerns emerging from the current debate. These are: network infrastructure, with the corresponding concerns of control, surveillance, and data privacy and ownership; post-political governance, embodied in the tensions between public and private decision-making and cities as post-political entities; social inclusion, expressed in the aspects o…Read more
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56The US Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2022 vs. The EU Artificial Intelligence Act: what can they learn from each other?Minds and Machines 32 (4): 751-758. 2022.On the whole, the US Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2022 (US AAA) is a pragmatic approach to balancing the benefits and risks of automated decision systems. Yet there is still room for improvement. This commentary highlights how the US AAA can both inform and learn from the European Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AIA).
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