There are many examples of the use of technology, including artificial intelligence abuse and unintentional bias, deepfake misrepresentation, privacy-eroding tracking software, and data collection used in targeting algorithms.
These and other technology-focused fears prompted Adam Thompson and graduate student Colton Harper to create an embedded ethics program for computer scientists and engineers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. . With a grant from the Center for Transformative Teaching Teaching Grant, Nebraska became the first state university to receive a land grant to successfully develop an ethics program incorporated into its computer science and engineering programs.
“After learning about Harvard’s Embedded Ethics Program, we began creating a similar program to fit our particular situation here. UNLThompson, Director of the Kutuk Center for Ethics and Lecturer in Philosophy, said:
After bringing in Quinn White, a former assistant professor of philosophy, newand with the full support of the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Computing, the trio applied and CTTstudent-faculty collaboration grants.
“I am very happy to receive this award,” said Thompson.
Using the Harvard University model as a template, the group has developed a built-in ethics pilot program that aligns with computer science and engineering courses in collaboration with the university’s Kutak Ethics Center. The program recruited a diverse set of graduate student teaching assistants from the Department of Philosophy to serve as module teachers.
After the module’s first run, Thompson said, students expressed concern about doing as little harm as possible in computer science and engineering.
“Beyond personal ethics, they are concerned with understanding the political implications of their work,” Thompson said. “For example, they wonder how seemingly trivial information collected through social media, eye-tracking software, etc., can be used to disenfranchise or discriminate against parts of the population. increase.”
As with any exploratory project, the participants faced some difficulties, but after receiving a $20,000 grant from the Gladys Creeve Delmas Charitable Foundation, overall created the foundation for an embedded ethics program moving forward at the university. I was able to do.
“We are the first land-grant flagship state university to successfully develop an embedded ethics program,” Thompson said. “We are working to publicize the lessons learned in implementing the program. UNL To make it easier for other similarly positioned institutions to develop programs that meet their needs. ”
To view stories from other grant recipients and submit proposals for this year’s grant, please visit: CTTwebsite.
