The unaddressed ethics and implications of A.I.

Every day the public remains entranced by Donald Trump, we miss the opportunity to discuss the impacts technology is having on our lives. So it’s somewhat ironic that video games, the third-favorite scapegoat of politicians and news outlets alike, has become a vehicle for addressing philosophical and ethical questions that would otherwise go unaddressed. Detroit: Become Human forces us to question what it means to be human.

Several weeks back Google held their annual developer’s conference, Google I/O. As is the norm with industry conferences, Google introduced several projects and services that had been under wraps. Between their new tools for businesses, the introduction of Google Lens, and new Firebase features, a central theme was clear: AI (narrow AI, a.k.a machine learning).

There were several presentations centered around AI, but none as prominent as the demo of Google Assistant. Live and on-stage, the presenter asked his Google Assistant to call and schedule an appointment at the hairdresser. What followed was astonishing, to say the least.

Much to the crowd’s surprise, the AI handled the 1-minute call flawlessly. My immediate reaction was one of disbelief; if I hadn’t been told that it was an A.I. speaking, I likely would have been hard-pressed to figure it out on my own. Far from a monotone computerized voice, it sounded nearly human. The experience designers had obviously put a lot of work into understanding human speech patterns and had included subtle hesitations in speech patterns like “um” and “ahh”.

The call was but one example of how narrow AI is encroaching on our lives as companies push the bleeding edge of technology. As continued strides are made in passive surveillance technology and in the replication of human expression the lack of ethical limitations for A.I. has become more apparent.

Jump to earlier this week when Quantic Dreams much anticipated Detroit: Become Human was released for the PS4. The game takes players to Detroit, Michigan in 2038. The city, once desolated by poverty and mismanagement had transformed, becoming a hub of technological innovation, namely through the invention of human-like androids.

The game follows 3 androids: Kara, who escapes servitude to explore her sentience and protect a young girl; Markus, who focuses on leading other androids to freedom; and Connor, an android detective tasked with bringing them all in. As players progress through the story they’re put in difficult situations and are forced to answer hard questions about what it means to be free in a world that doesn’t even think you’re alive.

Video games are a uniquely interactive medium specifically in the level that they involve their audience to be involved. We’re far from having robot butlers to deal with, but the task of defining positive and negative user experiences involving A.I. is one that we should address as soon a possible.