ETHICS AND SOCIETAL IMPACT

LEARNING GOALS By the end of this chapter you will be able to describe your system's abilities honestly. You will be able to be open with users about automation. You will be able to weigh environmental and resource costs. You will be able to recognize over-reliance and design against it. WHY ETHICS IS AN ENGINEERING TOPIC Ethics can sound like a subject for philosophers, far from code. But every choice in a harness affects real people. Which actions an agent may take, what it tells users, how much energy it uses, and how closely a human checks its output are all engineering choices with human consequences. A well-built harness is one that is also honest and careful. HONEST CAPABILITY CLAIMS The first duty is to describe your system truthfully. If an agent drafts responses for a human to review, say exactly that, and do not call it fully autonomous and error-free. Overstating abilities leads users to trust the system more than it deserves, and that is how people get hurt. A useful test is to ask what the system does on its worst day, not its best. If your description would still be true on that day, it is honest.