Ben Chan

The exponential growth in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the past few years has seen important new considerations in economics, global politics, communication, data analysis and more. Many great promises are in store for those who master this technology, but so too are many potential disasters. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Asia, the most populous continent where national strategies since 2017 have focused on the importance of AI for establishing the stability and prosperity of the region. On 16 and 17 October 2024, the Centre for Applied Ethics at Hong Kong Baptist University, in collaboration with the Dicastery for Culture and Education, held a conference to discuss particular social and ethical challenges facing Asia with AI. Scholars gathered from across the continent and even beyond to bring to light and collaborate on what issues we uniquely face. We offer this piece to highlight problems and potential responses.

Limitarianism, introduced by Robeyns, advocates for establishing a maximum threshold on individual wealth to prevent excessive accumulation. Robeyns’ work primarily draws from Western thought and does not engage with East Asian traditions such as Confucianism. This paper aims to bridge that gap by exploring the potential for dialogue between limitarianism and Confucianism on economic equality and distributive justice, using sufficientarianism as a nexus. I examine how Confucianism and limitarianism each relate to sufficientarianism and how these relationships can facilitate meaningful exchanges. Confucianism could potentially align with limitarianism by presenting it as a pragmatic, problem-driven philosophy for achieving economic equality consistent with Confucian ideals. The paper also addresses limitations of this dialogue and suggests potential directions for future research.

With the widespread availability of personal information on the internet and its potential unauthorized disclosure, the rapid advancement of technology has brought forth numerous ethical challenges. Balancing the conflict between privacy and information collection is a pressing concern that necessitates thoughtful consideration from all stakeholders. Philosophers play a crucial role in providing a moral framework to address this conflict. While ongoing debates on privacy persist in the Western context, this chapter focuses on evaluating the contribution and limitations of Confucianism to these discussions. Specifically, it examines the debate’s central issues of uncertainty and risk associated with privacy violations and highlights the significance of the intimacy account within Confucian thought. By analyzing Confucianism’s emphasis on intimate relationships, particularly within the family structure, this chapter argues that it offers a unique perspective for addressing privacy concerns. However, it also acknowledges the limitations of applying Confucianism to the privacy debates in A.I. and technology ethics, cautioning against oversimplifying the discussion into an East-West dichotomy. Drawing from the aforementioned analysis, this chapter further explores the evaluation of privacy issues in practical examples and applications within the realm of A.I. and technology ethics. These examples include the ethical implications of Chatbots interacting with deceased individuals and the utilization of technologies in education in both physical and virtual classrooms.

The Deaf culture in the United States is a unique culture that is not widely understood. To members of the Deaf community in the United States, deafness is not viewed as a disease or pathology to be treated or cured; instead it is seen as a difference in human experience. Members of this community do not hide their deafness; instead they take great pride in their Deaf identity. The Deaf culture in the United States is very communitarian not individualistic. Mary Beth and Dominic are a married couple in their late 20s who are genetically deaf. They are active members in the Deaf community and work as advocates for individuals who are deaf, family members of Deaf people and sign language interpreters who identify with the Deaf culture. Mary Beth and Dominic approach the fertility clinic with a request that they only want a child with the genetic gene for deafness. They would want the embryos that do not have the gene to be destroyed. This would entail creating a child who would have the gene for deafness. Medically and ethically, should the fertility clinic agree to the couple’s request? The authors argue that the couple's request should be denied and provide reasons for it from the perspectives of foundational and clinical ethics.

Whole-genome analysis and whole-exome analysis generate many more clinically actionable findings than traditional targeted genetic analysis. These findings may be relevant to research participants themselves as well as for members of their families. Though researchers performing genomic analyses are likely to find medically significant genetic variations for nearly every research participant, what they will find for any given participant is unpredictable. The ubiquity and diversity of these findings complicate questions about disclosing individual genetic test results. We outline an approach for disclosing a select range of genetic results to the relatives of research participants who have died, developed in response to relatives? requests during a pilot study of large-scale medical genetic sequencing. We also argue that studies that disclose individual research results to participants should, at a minimum, passively disclose individual results to deceased participants? relatives.