Analysis of Ethical Dilemmas in AI: An ITC506 Report

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ITC506 Information Technology Ethics
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Part 1 – The ACS Code of Professional Conduct and Ethical Theory............................................4
Question 1: Case studies discussion............................................................................................4
Question 2: Ethical Theory..........................................................................................................6
Part 3: Essay....................................................................................................................................7
Case study 1: Driverless car........................................................................................................7
Case study 2: “The Cost of Knowledge.”....................................................................................8
Case study 3: Transparency is useful or not................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
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Introduction
Technology is getting the change in the past few years which need the determination of different
ethics and values so that things went into right and suitable direction. It is essential for computer
professionals to focus on ethics and values align in the information and technology process. This
report is focused on the ACS of professional conduct (Australian Computer Society, 2018). This
assessment covers two aspects with different questions. The first section of an assessment will be
focused on different case studies which associate with the ACS code of professional conduct. An
ethical theory will be discussed with two or more classic ethical theories. Moreover, three case
studies will be provided as well on ethics relate to technology with values present in the code of
ethics.
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Part 1 – The ACS Code of Professional Conduct and Ethical Theory
Question 1: Case studies discussion
 What is the action in this case study that is raising an ethical issue?
Case study 1: On the basis of the case study of Rahul, the boss takes the whole credit which
creates an ethical issue with Rahul and his work.
Case study 2: There are two ethical issues identified in the case assessment of the HCI
consultant. The ethical issue of action which represents in this case assessment belongs to
competency and professionalism.
Case study 3: The action of carrying down the project without any error by the manager stated
issue align with the primacy of public interest. The action of negligence has created an ethical
issue in the proposed case study.
 What is wrong with the action (from an ethical point of view)?
Case study 1: Action of manager neglect efforts of Rahul which decrease chances of her
appraisal and success.
Case study 2: HCI consultant is confused and she has to be honest with the company. She did
not provide information to management which creates problem further for a company A.
Case study 3: Action of negligence is wrong as per security and protection of client’s.
 Who is responsible for that action?
Case study 1: Entire firm of Rahul is responsible for this action as they do not resist such a
decision. Leader and supervisor of Rahul are also responsible for this constraint.
Case study 2: HCI consultant and manager of Company B are responsible for this action.
Case study 3: Manager is responsible for this action.
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 Who is affected by that action?
Case study 1: Rahul and other employees are getting an impact due to such action.
Case study 2: Company B will be impacted as they steal software of company A which might
influence and their image and goodwill at the market place.
Case study 3: Clients will be impacted with such action as personal information void clearly.
 What is the effect of that action on the person affected?
Case study 1: Rahul might get demotivated with this action as he made lots of efforts to develop
software.
Case study 2: HCI consultant gets affected by this action as a legal case can be filed against her
from both the companies which create disturbance in her life.
Case study 3: Faisal will be affected by this action as he feels confused. Along with this, it will
be influenced by his personal behavior as well.
 Which of the following values of the ACS Code are relevant to the above case study?
Case study 1: Honesty and professionalism
Case study 2: Competence and professional development
Case study 3: The Primacy of the Public Interest
 How the values you identified are relevant to the above case study?
Case study 1: Manager of Rahul does not show any honesty and professionalism and take whole
credit.
Case study 2: Company B wants competency so that they can grow in a competitive market
world for which they do not disclose information about the software.
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Case study 3: Anyone can assess information of customers, clients due to a security hole in the
proposed system.
Question 2: Ethical Theory
Ethics are an important aspect of a business which needs to undertake by managers of a
company. Thus, it is important to understand the theories of ethics so that management can
commence operations in the right direction (Johnson, 2017). On the basis of the proposed
attribute, there are mainly three case studies identify. Case studies include different ACS code of
professional values like honesty, professionalism, professional development, the primacy of
public interest. Following are the theories of ethics which need clear and better understanding:
 Utilitarianism: This theory of ethics is focused on right from wrong with the
identification of the outcome. It is focused on ethics which create maximum value for the
greatest number of people rather than one or two.
 Deontology: This theory is focused on rules rather than consequences. This theory is
underline in the normative theory of ethics which describe that action considers as
relevant or not under a series of rules (Winkler and Duminy, 2016).
 Virtue: It is a behavior showing high moral standards and focuses on ethics and values.
Under this, individuals need to focus on values and morals and follow things clearly to
manage a positive and effective aspect.
All these are major theories which define assess case studies properly. These theories are helpful
for a business and need to undertake. Managers and companies sometimes neglect ethics and
values and business and pass on to other track of operation. Hence, these theories are helpful to
use and undertake in proposed case studies. It will be helped to maintain employees and protect
the confidentiality of customers. The major value of the ACS code of professionalism is ethics
and follow the values standard.
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Part 3: Essay
Case study 1: Driverless car
Technological expansion is essential and needs a critical understanding by companies. With the
growth of technology, many companies want to launch driverless cars. The driverless cars have
aligned come ethical dilemmas especially concerning human lives. This essay is focused on a
driverless car with some ethical values regarding human lives to save without sacrifice human
lives.
Ethics are values on which things lead to commence in an appropriate manner. Professional
ethics are the one which needs in a business so that things get commence properly. Professional
ethics are different from other ethics as it supports the life of their customers and people
associate in business. Driverless cars need professional ethics in it as it needs ethics of extreme.
An ethical dilemma is the speed of the car which not gets controlled sometimes due to sensor
error. This ethical aspect is essential to understand as it clearly specifies that driverless cars
create concern for human lives. Another ethical value is associated with the challenge at
crosswalks (Himmelreich, 2018). Like sometimes, immediate brakes are required but delay in
the decision process, an accident leads to taking place. This costs for the life of a person which
create a problem in the operation of the driverless car.
The professional code of ethics in terms of ACS is referred to as the primacy of human life. This
has been supported to manage the life of human being and avoid chances of accidents. It will be
supported to avoid the crash and stop the car at any cost. This professional code of ethics is
required to undertake in the stance of the driverless car so that they can manage human lives.
Professional codes of ethics are important to determine in driverless cars creation. This also
needed some human intervention so that in case of emergency things control properly. Hence,
engineers need to ascertain ethical dilemmas as well while manufacturing driverless cars.
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Case study 2: “The Cost of Knowledge.”
Ethics and values in knowledge are required to be appropriate. If anyone uses knowledge as a
source of income then it might create ethical dilemmas. This essay is focused on ethics and
values align with Elsevier Press which publish 2000 journals with 20,000 books. Many of the
scholars have protested against this and sign for a petition pledging. The ethical dilemmas
associated with knowledge will be aligned in this study. Along with this, the professional code of
ethics will be discussed as well for the assessment.
Professional ethics are important for every sort of business to manage work and operations. This
is helpful to manage things in favor of the client. Professional ethics and personal ethics are not
completely different but a slight difference identifies (Bertrand, 2018). This difference is helpful
to undertake in professional context so that relevant outcome impose clearly. Elsevier publishes
is not followed the ethics in a professional context as they protect information to access. This has
created personal ethics into it which restrict others to obtain knowledge.
Professionalism with honesty is two major professional codes of ethics which need to undertake
by Elsevier publishes. They have to provide journals and books on a suitable price which enable
them to commence operations properly. The charging of high price by Elsevier publishes create
dissatisfaction in scholars for which company serve a “cost of knowledge”.
All ethics and values are important to undertake by companies. Along with this, they need to
follow the ethical dilemmas properly where they need to provide information on relevant prices.
This accessibility will further enable to draft a suitable investigation. Due to more hunger of cost,
Elsevier publishes has paid a cost of knowledge where all publishers take back their hands about
further publications.
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Case study 3: Transparency is useful or not.
Transparency is important at certain stages and context but extending it publically not advised.
With the help of transparency, things went in the right direction with the effective decision. But
all the time facilitating transparency create a problem like loss of data etc. This section will be
discussed about transparency as an essential frame for the decision but extending the point not
advised. This section will be covered the argument with this observation with the professional
code of ethics. These codes of ethics will be determined via the Australian Computer system
with certain ethical dilemmas.
Exceeding the transparency of information create a problem for an organization. These problems
are important to determine so that things went into the right direction. The ethical issues which
associated with exceeding of transparency include loss of data, privacy theft etc. All these are
important to determine in a critical manner by managers of a company. Along with this,
companies cannot ascertain an appropriate competitive edge for the future. Yes, the aspect that
transparency is certainly useful, but only up to a point is true. Hence, it is advised to companies
to maintain the confidentiality of information to manage their clients.
The code of professional practices as per the Australian Computer System includes honesty with
professionalism and primacy of public interest (Karkazis and Fishman, 2017). All these codes of
ethics are important to draw by companies. If they will not going to follow the same then it
creates difference and deviation in their image. Hence, decision making can be processed with an
algorithm to manage lives effectively.
Professional code of practices with the determination of issue has been evaluated. These
problems have been discussed clearly which enforce a business to maintain transparency of
information to the public to an extent. A failure to do so has decreased their revenue capacity as
customers might shift to other companies.
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Conclusion
It gets concluded from the stated report that ethics need proper determination in technology.
Companies have to focus on technology and ethical values associated with it to manage
confidentiality. A discussion of the Australian Computer System code of ethical professionals
has been discussed properly. This has been supported by different case studies with various
ethical dilemmas. Moreover, a case discussion of the essay has been presented with various
issues and problems related to professionalism. Along with this, the code of professionalism has
been discussed to evaluate and ascertain a beneficial and relevant outcome.
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References
 Australian Computer Society. (2018). ACS Code of Professional Conduct. [Online] ACS.
Retrieved from: https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/rules-and-regulations/Code-of-
Professional-Conduct_v2.1.pdf. [Accessed on: 8th Feb 2019].
 Bertrand, C. J. (2018). Media ethics and accountability systems. Routledge.
 Hankerson, D., Marshall, A. R., Booker, J., El Mimouni, H., Walker, I., & Rode, J. A.
(2016, May). Does technology have race?. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference
Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 473-486). ACM.
 Himmelreich, J. (2018). The Ethical Challenges Self-Driving Cars Will Face Every Day.
[Online] Smithsonian. Retrieved from:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/ethical-challenges-self-driving-cars-will-
face-every-day-180968596/. [Accessed on: 8th Feb 2019].
 Johnson, C. E. (2017). Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or
shadow. Sage Publications.
 Karkazis, K., & Fishman, J. R. (2017). Tracking US professional athletes: The ethics of
biometric technologies. The American Journal of Bioethics, 17(1), 45-60.
 Winkler, T., & Duminy, J. (2016). Planning to change the world? Questioning the
normative ethics of planning theories. Planning Theory, 15(2), 111-129.
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