Understanding the need for human ethics in AI use and development

In December 2022, the app Lensa AI used artificial intelligence to generate cool, cartoon-looking profile photos from people’s regular images. From an ethical standpoint, some people criticized the app for not giving credit or enough money to artists who created the original digital art the AI was trained on [1]. According to The Washington Post, Lensa was being trained on billions of photographs sourced from the internet without consent [2]. 

Another example is the AI model ChatGPT, which enables users to interact with it by asking questions. ChatGPT scours the internet for data and answers with a poem, Python code, or a proposal. One ethical dilemma is that people are using ChatGPT to win coding contests or write essays. It also raises similar questions to Lensa, but with text rather than images.

These are just two popular examples of AI ethics. As AI has grown in recent years, influencing nearly every industry and having huge positive impact on industries like health care, the topic of AI ethics has become even more salient. How do we ensure bias-free AI? What can be done to mitigate risks in the future? There are many potential solutions, but stakeholders must act responsibly and collaboratively in order to create positive outcomes across the globe.