Valerie Mey

This article proposes a new, Camusian approach to analyzing and navigating ethical dilemmas in relation to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, by extension, to other disruptive technoscience. The article takes as its point of departure the Unified Framework of Five Principles for AI in Society, as advanced by Floridi and Cowls (2021), which offers a comprehensive and cohesive framework of the many abstract values and principles brought up in AI ethics discourse. Using a case-study approach, which focuses on the principle of accountability in AI, we demonstrate that, even following an exhaustive systematization of abstract principles, ethical dilemmas still arise whenever we consider applications of the technology in concrete situations. Furthermore, because of the way technology mediates our ethical judgement, a deeper ethical dilemma arises; we can either judge technologies like AI prematurely, without knowing their impact, or after they have been able to bias our norms and intuitions for ethical deliberation. This article then argues that the vulnerability of our ethical judgement to continuous doubt, which is exposed by AI as a landmark case of disruptive technology, can be addressed by integrating Albert Camus’ philosophy of absurdity, rebellion and dignity. Through Camus, we can contextualize our experience of ethical doubt in relation to AI as existentially absurd, while also navigating normative change more confidently with meta-level principles for ethical deliberation itself. The article concludes that, while ethical dilemmas and doubts will persist, this Camusian approach will make us more responsible in undertaking the continuous adaptation and concretizing of our ethical frameworks.