Category: Ethics

Gender Equality in Engineering: An Institutional Reflection

By on February 28th, 2024 in Articles, Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

We identified five key issues to prioritize when addressing gender equality: Reaching critical mass; Improving lived and living experience (maintaining critical mass); Selection and resource-allocation criteria; The misconception of merit in academia; Beyond gender equality.

Potential Impact of Data-Centric AI on Society

By on December 18th, 2023 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

DCAI has the potential to revolutionize many industries and fields by enabling more efficient and effective decision-making based on insights extracted from data. Monitoring and evaluating the algorithm’s performance can help identify and mitigate biases over time, ensuring reliable and ethical results.

ChatSh*t and Other Conversations (That We Should Be Having, But Mostly Are Not)

By on November 3rd, 2023 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming people’s access to and attitudes toward knowledge. It is an extremely powerful technology, but this transformation presents numerous social, environmental, political, and educational considerations.

Respecting and Protecting Cultural Values in an Indigenous Virtual Reality Project

By on September 27th, 2023 in Articles, Case Studies, Commentary, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology

Co-design and development of technology with indigenous communities requires respect and close partnership. Here, we reflect on our experiences working with a Māori (indigenous New Zealand) community as Pākehā (non-Māori). In particular, we consider the importance of protection as an underlying principle.

Counteracting the Global Labor Shortage Risk Through Human–AI Collaboration in Digital Recruiting

By on September 25th, 2023 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Commentary, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Amid a global labor force crisis, we cannot turn a blind eye to technological solutions. However, we must approach them with caution and prudence to avoid exacerbating existing biases.

Remembering an Ethical Engineering Advocate

By on September 24th, 2023 in Articles, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, News and Notes, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

The IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) lost one of its leading lights when Stephen H. “Steve” Unger passed away on 4 July 2023, at the age of 92 (https://technologyandsociety.org/ssit-csit-co-founder-stephen-h-unger-dies/).

IEEE ISTAS 2023 Conference in Swansea, Wales, Hosts First of Two Scheduled Climate Change Panels

By on September 16th, 2023 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blog Posts, Conferences, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Some topics addressed on the September 13 panel included climate change challenges related to health and healthcare, contributions of computing to the climate change problem in terms of energy use, along with the potential of computing to contribute to solutions to the crisis, agriculture and food security issues related to climate change, systems design, finding solutions and improving communication across IEEE societies, carbon removal, and economic and social aspects of the crisis including forced migration, water supplies, and the responsibilities of developed nations to developing nations in climate change mitigation.

Crowd small figures of people on Piazza del Duomo square, Milan, Italy

Reimagining Digital Public Spaces and Artificial Intelligence for Deep Cooperation

By on August 20th, 2023 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Commentary, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

What role does and can AI play in us being able to enjoy security in our places and spaces? Perhaps we could design technology-enabled spaces for the purpose of strengthening the community and empowering community action.

Securitization for Sustainability of People and Place

By on August 4th, 2023 in Articles, Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

The purpose of this special issue is to explore and address complex securitization-related challenges, from a broader perspective and across various dimensions and sectors, that transcend disciplinary boundaries, focusing on the role of technology relevant to the securitization of people and place, while also considering the transdisciplinarity and the socio-historical originals of securitization.

SSIT/CSIT Co-Founder Stephen H. Unger Dies

By on July 15th, 2023 in Articles, Blog Posts, Ethics, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Stephen H. Unger, one of the founders of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology, Life Fellow of the IEEE, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Columbia University, champion of engineering ethics, and a prominent figure within SSIT, has died at the age of 92.

BOOK REVIEW: The Smart Wife: Why Siri, Alexa, and Other Smart Home Devices Need a Feminist Reboot

By on May 23rd, 2023 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Book Reviews, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Robotics, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Strengers, an Associate Professor of Digital Technology at Monash University, and Kennedy, a postdoc at RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, argue that if we proceed down the current path of making our digital assistants, fembots, gynoids, and voice-activated devices look, sound, and/or behave like simulacra of women, we risk reinforcing traditional gender stereotypes in ways that could rebound on real women.

BOOK REVIEW: Atomic Doctors: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age

By on May 1st, 2023 in Articles, Book Reviews, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Dr. Nolan and his colleagues were responsible for developing standards to protect against radiation exposure in the laboratory and during the Trinity Test in July 1945. The physicians were continually frustrated by their inability to convince the military about the dangers of radiation but “there is considerable evidence to suggest that the doctors were ever mindful of potential legal consequences and careful to take precautions to protect themselves and the military from future litigation.”

IEEE HTB / SSIT DL – 28 March 10am ET – Co-designing Ethical Interventions in Resource Constrained Environments

By on March 27th, 2023 in Articles, Ethics, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

The IEEE Humanitarian Technologies Board Ad Hoc Committee on SIGHT Best Practices is cooperating with a number of IEEE OUs…  Read More

A 13-year-old girl is using her smartphone in the dark room.

Toxic Technology

By on March 16th, 2023 in Articles, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Communication Technology, Editorial & Opinion, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

Technology has always been about more than simply a route to increased productivity and economic growth; technology also provides the opportunity to enhance, enrich, and empower—basically, to improve shared qualitative values or people’s quality of life (however that is measured). On the flip side, technology also provides the opportunity to develop and project organizational control, which itself can be weaponized to quantitatively determine human value as an asset to that organization, or to reinforce asymmetric power relationships.

Data Feminism

By on February 24th, 2023 in Articles, Book Reviews, Ethics, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact

In Data Feminism, authors Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein do not merely deal with data. They pair data with feminism. Here, feminism is deployed as a “shorthand for the diverse and wide-ranging projects that name and challenge sexism and other forces of oppression, as well as those which seek to create more just, equitable, and livable futures.”