Are AI ethicists making any difference?

In this episode, Dave interviews Helen about her recent article in Quartz, “Are AI ethicists making any difference?” Some of the topics we explore include:

• Why is there a rush to hire AI ethicists in the tech industry?
• What do AI ethicists do?
• Why are people skeptical and what is “ethics washing” and “ethics bashing?”
• What does Jacob Metcalf of Data & Society mean by saying that ethics is “the vessel which we use to hold our values?”
• What does Josh Lovejoy of Microsoft mean by saying that ethics need not be seen as a philosophical add-on “but as just good design?”
• What are AI checklists and why is their use good practice?