PC Magazine - USA (2020-01)

B

e

n

D

i

c

k

s

o

n

S

ince MIT Professor Bernhardt Trout’s

engineering ethics course shifted to focus

RQWKHHWKLFVRIDUWL¿FLDOLQWHOOLJHQFHWKH

FODVVKDVEDOORRQHGIURPDKDQGIXORIVWXGHQWV

SHUVHPHVWHULQWRPRUHWKDQWKLV\HDU

$VGHHSOHDUQLQJDQGQHXUDOQHWZRUNVWDNHFHQWHU

VWDJH³WKHVWXGHQWVKDYHPXFKPRUHRIDFRQFHUQ

DERXW$,SDUWLFXODUO\RYHUWKHODVW\HDURUVR ́

7URXWVD\V

$NH\FKDOOHQJHDFFRUGLQJWR7URXWLVWKDW³WKHVH

DOJRULWKPVSXVKXVWRZDUGXVWKLQNLQJOHVVDQG

DFWLQJEDVHGRQLPSUHVVLRQVWKDWPD\RUPD\QRW

EHFRUUHFWDVRSSRVHGWR>PDNLQJ@RXURZQ

GHFLVLRQVLQDIXOO\LQIRUPHGZD\,QJHQHUDOZH

ZDQWWRKDYHWKHDQVZHUDQGPRYHRQ$QGWKHVH

DOJRULWKPVWHQGWRSOD\R̆RQWKDWSV\FKRORJ\ ́

$V$,HYROYHV³ZHQHHGWREHDFWLYHO\HQJDJHGLQ

TXHVWLRQLQJZKDWWKHDOJRULWKPVGRZKDWWKH

UHVXOWVPHDQDQGKRZLQKHUHQWELDVLQWKH

WUDLQLQJVHWFDQD̆HFWWKHUHVXOWV ́7URXWVD\V

7KHUHDUHPDQ\ZD\VWKLVEOLQGIDLWKLQ

DOJRULWKPVFDQKDYHDGYHUVHH̆HFWV)RULQVWDQFH

ZKHQ\RXVWDUWWREHOLHYHDQG³OLNH ́HYHU\WKLQJ

\RXVHHLQ\RXU)DFHERRN1HZV)HHGZKLFKLV

SRZHUHGE\$,DOJRULWKPV\RX¶OOHQGXSVHHLQJ

RQO\DUWLFOHVWKDWFRQ¿UP\RXUYLHZSRLQWVDQG

Why AI Leads Us to Think

Less, Act Impulsively

Ben Dickson is a

software engineer

who writes about

disruptive tech

trends, including

artificial intelligence,

VR and AR, the IoT,

and blockchain. Ben

also runs the blog

Tech Talks.

COMMENTARY