Ethical Challenges in the Use of Digital Technologies: AI and Big Data

This chapter looks at the normative and applied ethical standpoint and application of real-world technology challenges, with regard to Big Data (BD) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) domains and use-cases. In particular, how ethical technology design and utility can aid government policy makers, senior-management, software developers, and academic researchers in the quest for new knowledge and effective solutions. We discuss how biases are introduced by design in the workplace through technology and policy decision-making, how legal protections can become ambiguous through lack of definition, thus enhancing cyber-criminality, and demonstrate weakness in how the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) may adapt in light of new social phenomena and cultural change. We then propose legal applications with technical solutions that benefit societies in the addressing of core social operational/organisational themes and objectives, such as equality, diversity, gender pay-gap, racism, and the encouragement in the recruitment of women. This is undertaken from a combination of BD and AI ethical application perspectives, with a set of amalgamated criteria, the findings of which help identify factors for utilising in the design of a more ethically sound User Interface (UI). Three additional key socially controversial use-cases are presented (i.e., cyberstalking, sharenting, and, recruitment bias) and assessed alongside the set criteria to highlight current techno-social challenges, metrics, and applications that augment swift action in the mitigation of individual user risk. Thus, an ethically based UI Data Pipeline (VDaaS) is proposed in ensuring ethical, legal, technical objectives, and operations are met from a user perspective.