Big Data & Society· 2016Q1· Review
The ethics of algorithms: Mapping the debate
- 3,004citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2016year
Short summary
This paper maps the ethical debate surrounding algorithms, which increasingly mediate human decisions and social processes.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Algorithms are increasingly mediating decisions in social processes, business, and government.
- Gaps between algorithm design/operation and ethical understanding pose significant risks.
- The paper offers a map to organize the ethical debate on algorithms.
- It reviews current ethical discussions and identifies areas for future work.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
In information societies, operations, decisions and choices previously left to humans are increasingly delegated to algorithms, which may advise, if not decide, about how data should be interpreted and what actions should be taken as a result. More and more often, algorithms mediate social processes, business transactions, governmental decisions, and how we perceive, understand, and interact among ourselves and with the environment. Gaps between the design and operation of algorithms and our understanding of their ethical implications can have severe consequences affecting individuals as well as groups and whole societies. This paper makes three contributions to clarify the ethical importance of algorithmic mediation. It provides a prescriptive map to organise the debate. It reviews the current discussion of ethical aspects of algorithms. And it assesses the available literature in order to identify areas requiring further work to develop the ethics of algorithms.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Big Data & Society, 2016 · DOI ↗
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Field: Safety Research
Safety ResearchSocial Sciences