Computer Ethics Across Disciplines

Dr. Merel Noorman is assistant professor in AI, Robotics and STS at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. Her research interests include the governance and regulation of AI and robotics, with a particular focus on the responsible development and use of complex intelligent technologies. In her current work she explores the relations between AI and democracy. She studied artificial intelligence and science & technology studies at the University of Amsterdam and Edinburgh University and received her PhD from Maastricht University. Since then, she has worked on various research projects in the U.S. and Europe looking at the ethical and social aspects of complex and intelligent computer technologies. One of these projects was a collaboration with Prof. Johnson on the topic of autonomous artificial agents and moral responsibility. Noorman has also worked as advisor for the Dutch Council for Social Development (Raad voor Maatschappelijke Ontwikkeling) and was managing director for the software company VicarVision.Dr. Mario Verdicchio is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Bergamo, Italy. He is the author of the book “L’informatica per la Comunicazione” (in Italian: Computer Science for Communication Sciences, 2016) and of a number of articles published on international journals (including Minds and Machines, Ethics and Information Technology, the International Journal of Social Robotics) and conference proceedings. In 2013 he co-founded the Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics and X (xcoax.org), for which he works in multiple roles, including chief editor of the proceeding books. His scholarly works tackle issues in artificial intelligence, computer art and philosophy of computer science. He is a member of the Berlin Ethics Lab at the Technical University Berlin, Germany.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. Constituting Algorithmic Accountability.- 3. Algorithmic Accountability Gets the Deborah Johnson Treatment.- 4.Johnson’s Algorithmic Accountability and Corporate Accountability Dissonance.- 5.Opening the Black Box of AI, Only to Be Disappointed.- 6.The Governance of AI Technologies.- 7.The Nature of Algorithms and their Relation to Accountability.- 8. Prospective Algorithmic Accountability and the Role of the News Media.- 9. Understanding Sociotechnical Systems.