GS4 Ethics & Human Interface
MediumExamine the role of ethics and value frameworks in governing emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, with reference to the limitations of regulatory mechanisms.
Examine — Break into logical components → Analyse each component → What holds, what needs qualification → Conclusion
- Ethics as governance tool: moral philosophy (Kant's duty-based ethics + consequentialism) → AI needs both rule-based limits + outcome assessment ≠ one framework sufficient
- Regulatory limitation: law = reactive + jurisdiction-bound → IEEPA/Section 122 analogy = regulation always chases technology, never leads it
- Value frameworks filling vacuum: religious/cultural moral traditions → Faith-AI Covenant (Anthropic + OpenAI, 2026) = billions of followers + cross-cultural reach ≠ state authority
- Whose values problem: no universal ethics possible → different faiths prioritise differently (Rabbi Gerson) = encoding one tradition's values ≠ neutral governance
- Indigenous knowledge gap: Global South + non-Abrahamic traditions structurally underrepresented → Global Innovation Index 2024 data gaps = same exclusion pattern in data + ethics
- ∴ Voluntary norms ≠ enforceable governance → IDMO-type binding authority needed for AI ethics + must feed into treaty-level regulatory architecture for durable accountability