Tilak Agerwala

Autonomous and intelligent systems and services that use narrow artificial intelligence technologies such as statistical learning and limited inferencing (AISSN) are pervasive in our lives and industry. These systems, very far from having human-like intelligence, will offer significant potential for doing social good, achieving productivity gains and advancing science and engineering. However, AISSN systems can have unanticipated and harmful impacts. This chapter highlights the ethical challenges of AISSNs using three diverse and pervasive examples: Internet of Things, conversational AI, and semi-autonomous vehicles. We contend that AISSNs will be the norm for the foreseeable future and that artificial general intelligence will not develop anytime soon. The ethical challenges of AISSNs are addressable using human-centred “Ethical Design”, the use of widely accepted moral standards of right and wrong to guide the conduct of people in the ideation, design, development, and deployment of AISSN systems. Depending on the problem domain, multidisciplinary teams of computer scientists and engineers, sociologists, economists, ethicists, linguists, and cultural anthropologists will be required to implement humanistic design processes.

This edited volume presents perspectives from computer science, information theory, neuroscience and brain imaging, aesthetics, social sciences, psychiatry, and philosophy to answer frontier questions related to artificial intelligence and human experience. Can a machine think, believe, aspire and be purposeful as a human? What is the place in the machine world for hope, meaning and transformative enlightenment that inspires human existence? How, or are, the minds of machines different from that of humans and other species? These questions are responded to along with questions in the intersection of health, intelligence and the brain. It highlights the place of consciousness by attempting to respond to questions with the help of fundamental reflections on human existence, its life-purposes and machine intelligence. The volume is a must-read for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary researchers in humanities and social sciences and philosophy of science who wish to understand the future of AI and society.

This book reflects on the models of leadership espoused by ancient Indic traditions, in particular the Advaita Vedanta tradition. Focusing primarily on the Rajarshi--'the philosopher king'--the essays in the volume showcase how using these models in contemporary society could lead to the creation of self-aware and empathic leaders, and an inclusive society. The book explores examples of the Brahmarshi or the wise scholar, Rajarshi or the wise ruler and, Devarshi or the visionary to bring together all the ideal virtues of inclusive leadership in the current cultural and political space. The essays in the volume adopt a critical sociological philosophical, and management lens to analyse the Indic traditions and dharmic concepts. The volume uses concepts such as--dharma, karma and, yoga along with organisational psychology, technology, and management, to arrive at the concept of transcendental leadership. It theorises new definitions of the Rajarshi ideal, which can be used towards public service, social transformation and self-discovery. The volume will be useful for scholars and academics interested in Indic philosophies of leadership and governance, sociology, and social and political inclusivity. It will also be useful for readers in public administration, business and management.