This ethical AI assessment tool was developed based on a roundtable presentation, Assessing fair AI use: Rubric development for assessing ethical and social equity concerns in AI, at ACH2024: the 2024 virtual conference of Association for Computers and the Humanities, November 6–8, 2024.
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As a librarian focusing on sustainability, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital storage is of concern. The burgeoning field of AI and its associated supercomputing capabilities as well as that of related digital storage rely heavily on resource extraction. However, this progress has ethical and social concerns. Issues of power, oppression, and justice must be considered alongside the environmental impact of AI, e.g., a surprisingly high water consumption associated with AI use has been demonstrated. In regions facing increasing water scarcity, such costs become significant, particularly for educational institutions. Similarly, there are devastating environmental and human costs of mineral mining, a practice that intensifies as AI technology advances. The profitability of mining often fails to account for its full societal impact, including environmental damage, worker illness and fatalities, and the displacement of local communities. These hidden costs are often obscured from those who benefit from AI advancements. This lack of transparency can be perpetuated by those in positions of power or those who are unwilling to acknowledge or address these issues. The energy production needed to support AI operations necessitates a constant draw on our reserves of minerals, water, and fossil fuels. This resource depletion could indirectly contribute to a range of global problems, including violence, conflict, climate displacement, pollution, species extinction, and environmental degradation. The brunt of these consequences is disproportionately borne by disadvantaged populations and ecosystems worldwide. There are similar concerns with data centers where our digital data is stored that have a large carbon footprint, as well as social equity issues. These are all complex issues and this round table aims to discuss some questions around these concerns to develop a rubric to assess AI use and digital storage that could be used by librarians, academics, students, or anyone wishing to understand the environmental and social equity consequences of their AI use. Some of the questions that could be discussed include ethical implications, such as transparency, fairness, privacy, accountability and social impact, and some could include environmental implications, such as energy consumption, resource utilization, and sustainability. Examples of these could be: Does the AI system avoid bias against any individual or group? Is there clear policy on data collection, storage, and usage? Who is responsible for the AI system’s decisions? How much energy does the AI system require? What materials are needed for hardware that runs the AI? Does the AI system contribute to sustainable practices? Do you know where your data center is located? Discussion around these and other questions will result in the development of a robust rubric that will be a useful tool to help guide the use and development of AI resources and digital storage with a conscientious approach to ethical and environmental concerns.
Keywords:
Artificial intelligence; assessment tool; sustainability; social equity; environmental concerns
Citation:
Tribelhorn, S. (2024, November 7). Assessing fair AI use: Rubric development for assessing ethical and social equity concerns in AI. [Virtual Presentation]. ACH2024: the 2024 virtual conference of Association for Computers and the Humanities, November 6–8, 2024.
These are some of the considerations that were used to develop the rubric to assess equitable use of AI:
Ensuring Fairness, Bias, and Accountability
Transparency in AI Algorithms
Data Privacy Protection & Security
Energy Consumption & Resource Utilization
Environmental Impact & Sustainability
Social Impact
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