Publication: The Ethics of Algorithms: from radical content to self-driving cars

Following a two-day event on the Ethics of Algorithms a report was prepared by the CIHR with contributions from Zeynep Tufekci, Jillian C. York, Ben Wagner and Frederike Kaltheuner. The report will feed into the discussion at the Global Conference on Cyberspace in The Hague on April 16-17, 2015.

Algorithms are increasingly used to make decisions for us, about us, or with us. From areas of life that did not exist more than a decade ago, like online search or social media news areas, to fields where decisions used to be made exclusively via human judgement, such as health care or employment, algorithms are becoming important tools, or even sole decision-makers.

The report argues that three attributes cause algorithms to raise ethical challenges: the fact that many algorithms are complex and opaque, that they operate as gatekeepers and that they are rapidly encroaching into “subjective” decision-making where there is no right or wrong answer.

You can download the full report here. More on CIHR’s Ethics of Algorithms project.