philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Giving algorithms a sense of uncertainty could make them more ethical

The first technique, known as partial ordering, begins to introduce just the slightest bit of uncertainty. You could program the algorithm to prefer friendly soldiers over enemy soldiers and friendly civilians over enemy soldiers, but you wouldn’t specify a preference between friendly soldiers and friendly civilians.

In the second technique, known as uncertain ordering, you have several lists of absolute preferences, but each one has a probability attached to it. Three-quarters of the time you might prefer friendly soldiers over friendly civilians over enemy soldiers. A quarter of the time you might prefer friendly civilians over friendly soldiers over enemy soldiers.

The algorithm could handle this uncertainty by computing multiple solutions and then giving humans a menu of options with their associated trade-offs, Eckersley says. Say the AI system was meant to help make medical decisions. Instead of recommending one treatment over another, it could present three possible options: one for maximizing patient life span, another for minimizing patient suffering, and a third for minimizing cost. “Have the system be explicitly unsure,” he says, “and hand the dilemma back to the humans.”

See the full story here; https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612764/giving-algorithms-a-sense-of-uncertainty-could-make-them-more-ethical/?utm_campaign=the_download.unpaid.engagement&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=69114562&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9hTFsjeojj-ckwtsA0lKK7u2-gqfUE3vSzkrHS8HNFSL9Leaj3_e5l-eW3bwxaYCIQnaylmla11RqfnMLZYEeZdSshpQ&_hsmi=69114562