Papers by Dr. Brandt Dainow
AI and Ethics, Sep 20, 2023
In this paper, we present an approach for the systematic and comprehensive inclusion of ethical c... more In this paper, we present an approach for the systematic and comprehensive inclusion of ethical considerations in the design and development process of artificial intelligence systems, called Ethics by Design for AI (EbD-AI). The approach is the result of a three-year long research effort, and has recently be adopted by the European Commission as part of its ethics review procedure for AI projects. We describe and explain the approach and its different components and its application to the development of AI software and systems. We also compare it to other approaches in AI ethics, and we consider limitations of the approach as well as potential criticisms.
AI and Ethics, 2023
In this paper, we present an approach for the systematic and comprehensive inclusion of ethical c... more In this paper, we present an approach for the systematic and comprehensive inclusion of ethical considerations in the design and development process of artificial intelligence systems, called Ethics by Design for AI (EbD-AI). The approach is the result of a three-year long research effort, and has recently be adopted by the European Commission as part of its ethics review procedure for AI projects. We describe and explain the approach and its different components and its application to the development of AI software and systems. We also compare it to other approaches in AI ethics, and we consider limitations of the approach as well as potential criticisms.
CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research - Zenodo, Jul 16, 2022
The SIENNA project-Stakeholder-informed ethics for new technologies with high socioeconomic and h... more The SIENNA project-Stakeholder-informed ethics for new technologies with high socioeconomic and human rights impact-has received funding under the European Union's H2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 741716.
This thesis investigates possible future threats to human autonomy created by currently emerging ... more This thesis investigates possible future threats to human autonomy created by currently emerging ICT’s. Prepared for evaluation as PhD by Publication, it consists of four journal papers and one book chapter, together with explanatory material. The ICT’s under examination are drawn from the results of the ETICA project, which sought to identify emerging ICT’s of ethical import. We first evaluate this research and identify elements in need of enhancement – the social aspects pertaining to ethical impact and the need to introduce elements of General Systems Theory in order to account for ICT’s as socio-technical systems. The first two publications for evaluation present arguments from marxist and capitalist perspectives which provide an account of the social dimensions through which an ICT can reduce human autonomy. There are many competing accounts of what constitutes human autonomy. These may be grouped into classes by their primary characteristics. The third publication for evaluati...
In this SIENNA deliverable we present five general methods for translating ethical analysis into ... more In this SIENNA deliverable we present five general methods for translating ethical analysis into frameworks and methods for the ethical guidance of new emerging technologies. These are: a multistakeholder, coevolutionary strategy for ethically responsible development, deployment and use of new technology, a step-by-step method for the development of ethics guidelines and ways in which guidelines can be operationalized, a general approach for Ethics by Design, that works for all technology fields, suggestions for ethics and human rights projects on new and emerging technologies for engaging with policy-maker, and finally a method on how research ethics committees can support ethics in new emerging technology research.
After having conducted extensive ethical and legal studies and consulted a wide range of stakehol... more After having conducted extensive ethical and legal studies and consulted a wide range of stakeholders on AI and robotics and the social implications of these technologies, the SIENNA project has developed practical ethical guidance documents for AI and robotics. Considering the numerous high-level guidance documents developed in the field over the last couple of years, including the High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI HLEG), the SIENNA project, together with numerous stakeholders, identified the need for more operational guidance documents. The main objective of these documents is to provide practical ethics guidance to ensure AI and robotics are developed, deployed and used in ways that respect key ethical principles and values. SIENNA has developed six different guidance documents. The first guidance document is a Multi-stakeholder Strategy for Ethical AI and Robotics which is a comprehensive multi-stakeholder framework to ensure ethical AI and robotics. The oth...
Australasian Journal of Information Systems, Nov 26, 2017
This paper examines threats to autonomy created by significant emerging ICT's. Emerging ICT's cov... more This paper examines threats to autonomy created by significant emerging ICT's. Emerging ICT's cover a wide range of technologies, from intelligent environments to neuroelectronics, yet human autonomy is potentially threatened by all of them in some way. However, there is no single agreed definition of autonomy. This paper therefore considers the ways in which different versions of autonomy are impacted by different systems. From this range of threats we will derive some properties which any ICT must exhibit in order to threaten human autonomy. Finally, we will show how the range of definitions of autonomy creates problems for customary approaches to vale-sensitive design, and indicates a need for greater flexibility when attempting to improve the ethical status of emerging ICT's.
ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, 2016
The term 'digital alienation' is used in critical IS research to refer to manifestations of alien... more The term 'digital alienation' is used in critical IS research to refer to manifestations of alienation online. This paper explores the difficulties of using a traditional Marxist analysis to account for digital alienation. The problem is that the activity people undertake online does not look coerced or estranged from the creator's individuality, both of which are typically seen as necessary for the production of alienation. As a result of this apparent difficulty, much of the research has focused on the relationship between digital alienation and digital labour. This paper attempts to overcome these difficulties by discarding the traditional approach. We argue one can better understand digital alienation by focusing on the relationship between user intent and technical infrastructure, rather than concerns with labour. Under the existing economic model dominating the internet, free services are financed by recording user activity and then using the products of this commercial surveillance to sell information about people to others. We show how the real harm in current online business models is that commercial surveillance is being used to commodify private life. Seeking to define personal data in more precise terms, we will introduce two new concepts necessary for a detailed discussion of any ethical issues regarding personal data-the digital shadow and the digital persona. We will then show how affordances in current online systems are tuned to commodification of the user's personality. We will then explore the nature of online surveillance and show how affordances combine with the surveillance economy to produce digital alienation.
Philosophy & Technology, 2013
This paper applies a very traditional position within Natural Law Theory to Cyberspace. I shall f... more This paper applies a very traditional position within Natural Law Theory to Cyberspace. I shall first justify a Natural Law approach to Cyberspace by exploring the difficulties raised by the Internet to traditional principles of jurisprudence and the difficulties this presents for a Positive Law Theory account of legislation of Cyberspace. This will focus on issues relating to geography. I shall then explicate the paradigm of Natural Law accounts, the Treatise on Law, by Thomas Aquinas. From this account will emerge the structure of law and the metaphysics of justice. I shall explore those aspects of Cyberspace which cause geography to be problematic for Positive Law Theory, and show how these are essential, unavoidable and beneficial. I will then apply Aquinas's structure of law and metaphysics of justice to these characteristics. From this will emerge an alternative approach to cyberlaw which has no problem with the nature of Cyberspace as it is, but treats it as a positive foundation for new legal developments.
ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, 2016
This paper will identify three central dialectics within cloud services. These constitute definin... more This paper will identify three central dialectics within cloud services. These constitute defining positions regarding the nature of cloud services in terms of privacy, ethical responsibility, technical architecture and economics. These constitute the main frameworks within which ethical discussions of cloud services occur. The first dialectic concerns the question of whether it is it essential that personal privacy be reduced in order to deliver personalised cloud services. I shall evaluate the main arguments in favour of the view that it is. To contrast this, I shall review Langheinrich's Principles of Privacy-Aware Ubiquitous Systems [24]. This offers a design strategy which maintains functionality while embedding privacy protection into the architecture and operation of cloud services. The second dialectic is concerned with the degree to which people who design or operate cloud services are ethically responsible for the consequences of the actions of those systems, sometimes...
ORBIT Journal
This paper provides a conception of the smart city which takes into account what the smart city b... more This paper provides a conception of the smart city which takes into account what the smart city brings into the world which is new and original. This approach provides a means of dealing with the complex influences humans and digital systems will have on each other in the mature smart cities of the future. I will first review traditional accounts of the smart city and derive from them the essential characteristics common to these visions. I will then show how these characteristics can be best understood through Actor-network theory and construct an account of the smart city as an autopoietic system in which humans and devices are co-constituting actants. Finally I shall develop this into an original conception of the smart city as a new type of thing - an “integrated domain.”
Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 2017
This paper examines threats to autonomy created by significant emerging ICT's. Emerging ICT's cov... more This paper examines threats to autonomy created by significant emerging ICT's. Emerging ICT's cover a wide range of technologies, from intelligent environments to neuroelectronics, yet human autonomy is potentially threatened by all of them in some way. However, there is no single agreed definition of autonomy. This paper therefore considers the ways in which different versions of autonomy are impacted by different systems. From this range of threats we will derive some properties which any ICT must exhibit in order to threaten human autonomy. Finally, we will show how the range of definitions of autonomy creates problems for customary approaches to vale-sensitive design, and indicates a need for greater flexibility when attempting to improve the ethical status of emerging ICT's.
Orbit, 2017
This paper provides a conception of the smart city which takes into account what the smart city b... more This paper provides a conception of the smart city which takes into account what the smart city brings into the world which is new and original. This approach provides a means of dealing with the complex influences humans and digital systems will have on each other in the mature smart cities of the future. I will first review traditional accounts of the smart city and derive from them the essential characteristics common to these visions. I will then show how these characteristics can be best understood through Actor-network theory and construct an account of the smart city as an autopoietic system in which humans and devices are co-constituting actants. Finally I shall develop this into an original conception of the smart city as a new type of thing-an "integrated domain. "
This short essay summarises Adorno and Horkheimer's The Culture Industry. I shall first revie... more This short essay summarises Adorno and Horkheimer's The Culture Industry. I shall first review the key premises underlying the work, then summarise the main ideas. I shall offer some critical comments before examining historical developments since the work's publication to determine the degree to which it remains historically relevant. UNPUBLISHED ESSAY
This paper will identify three central dialectics within cloud services. These constitute definin... more This paper will identify three central dialectics within cloud services. These constitute defining positions regarding the nature of cloud services in terms of privacy, ethical responsibility, technical architecture and economics. These constitute the main frameworks within which ethical discussions of cloud services occur.
The first dialectic concerns the question of whether it is it essential that personal privacy be reduced in order to deliver personalised cloud services. I shall evaluate the main arguments in favour of the view that it is. To contrast this, I shall review Langheinrich’s Principles of Privacy-Aware Ubiquitous Systems [24]. This offers a design strategy which maintains functionality while embedding privacy protection into the architecture and operation of cloud services.
The second dialectic is concerned with the degree to which people who design or operate cloud services are ethically responsible for the consequences of the actions of those systems, sometimes known as the “responsibility gap.” I shall briefly review two papers which argue that no one is ethically responsible for such software, then contrast them with two papers which make strong arguments for responsibility. I shall show how claims for no responsibility rest on very narrow definitions of responsibility combined with questionable conceptions of technology itself.
The current shape of cloud services is dominated by a tension between open and closed systems. I shall show how this is reflected in architecture, standards and organisational models. I will then examine alternatives to the current state of affairs, including recent developments in support of alternative business models at government level, such as the House of Lords call for the Internet to be treated as a public utility (The Select Committee on Digital Skills, 2015).
The term ‘digital alienation’ is used in critical IS research to refer to manifestations of alien... more The term ‘digital alienation’ is used in critical IS research to refer to manifestations of alienation online. This paper explores the difficulties of using a traditional Marxist analysis to account for digital alienation. The problem is that the activity people undertake online does not look coerced or estranged from the creator’s individuality, both of which are typically seen as necessary for the production of alienation. As a result of this apparent difficulty, much of the research has focused on the relationship between digital alienation and digital labour.
This paper attempts to overcome these difficulties by discarding the traditional approach. We argue one can better understand digital alienation by focusing on the relationship between user intent and technical infrastructure, rather than concerns with labour. Under the existing economic model dominating the internet, free services are financed by recording user activity and then using the products of this commercial surveillance to sell information about people to others. We show how the real harm in current online business models is that commercial surveillance is being used to commodify private life.
Seeking to define personal data in more precise terms, we will introduce two new concepts necessary for a detailed discussion of any ethical issues regarding personal data - the digital shadow and the digital persona. We will then show how affordances in current online systems are tuned to commodification of the user’s personality. We will then explore the nature of online surveillance and show how affordances combine with the surveillance economy to produce digital alienation.
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Papers by Dr. Brandt Dainow
The first dialectic concerns the question of whether it is it essential that personal privacy be reduced in order to deliver personalised cloud services. I shall evaluate the main arguments in favour of the view that it is. To contrast this, I shall review Langheinrich’s Principles of Privacy-Aware Ubiquitous Systems [24]. This offers a design strategy which maintains functionality while embedding privacy protection into the architecture and operation of cloud services.
The second dialectic is concerned with the degree to which people who design or operate cloud services are ethically responsible for the consequences of the actions of those systems, sometimes known as the “responsibility gap.” I shall briefly review two papers which argue that no one is ethically responsible for such software, then contrast them with two papers which make strong arguments for responsibility. I shall show how claims for no responsibility rest on very narrow definitions of responsibility combined with questionable conceptions of technology itself.
The current shape of cloud services is dominated by a tension between open and closed systems. I shall show how this is reflected in architecture, standards and organisational models. I will then examine alternatives to the current state of affairs, including recent developments in support of alternative business models at government level, such as the House of Lords call for the Internet to be treated as a public utility (The Select Committee on Digital Skills, 2015).
This paper attempts to overcome these difficulties by discarding the traditional approach. We argue one can better understand digital alienation by focusing on the relationship between user intent and technical infrastructure, rather than concerns with labour. Under the existing economic model dominating the internet, free services are financed by recording user activity and then using the products of this commercial surveillance to sell information about people to others. We show how the real harm in current online business models is that commercial surveillance is being used to commodify private life.
Seeking to define personal data in more precise terms, we will introduce two new concepts necessary for a detailed discussion of any ethical issues regarding personal data - the digital shadow and the digital persona. We will then show how affordances in current online systems are tuned to commodification of the user’s personality. We will then explore the nature of online surveillance and show how affordances combine with the surveillance economy to produce digital alienation.
The first dialectic concerns the question of whether it is it essential that personal privacy be reduced in order to deliver personalised cloud services. I shall evaluate the main arguments in favour of the view that it is. To contrast this, I shall review Langheinrich’s Principles of Privacy-Aware Ubiquitous Systems [24]. This offers a design strategy which maintains functionality while embedding privacy protection into the architecture and operation of cloud services.
The second dialectic is concerned with the degree to which people who design or operate cloud services are ethically responsible for the consequences of the actions of those systems, sometimes known as the “responsibility gap.” I shall briefly review two papers which argue that no one is ethically responsible for such software, then contrast them with two papers which make strong arguments for responsibility. I shall show how claims for no responsibility rest on very narrow definitions of responsibility combined with questionable conceptions of technology itself.
The current shape of cloud services is dominated by a tension between open and closed systems. I shall show how this is reflected in architecture, standards and organisational models. I will then examine alternatives to the current state of affairs, including recent developments in support of alternative business models at government level, such as the House of Lords call for the Internet to be treated as a public utility (The Select Committee on Digital Skills, 2015).
This paper attempts to overcome these difficulties by discarding the traditional approach. We argue one can better understand digital alienation by focusing on the relationship between user intent and technical infrastructure, rather than concerns with labour. Under the existing economic model dominating the internet, free services are financed by recording user activity and then using the products of this commercial surveillance to sell information about people to others. We show how the real harm in current online business models is that commercial surveillance is being used to commodify private life.
Seeking to define personal data in more precise terms, we will introduce two new concepts necessary for a detailed discussion of any ethical issues regarding personal data - the digital shadow and the digital persona. We will then show how affordances in current online systems are tuned to commodification of the user’s personality. We will then explore the nature of online surveillance and show how affordances combine with the surveillance economy to produce digital alienation.