A global research initiative has emerged at Rutgers–Camden to tackle the pressing ethical challenges and opportunities posed by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, or AI. Launched last fall, the AI Ethics Lab, housed in the Digital Studies Center under the Department of English and Communication, examines artificial intelligence’s ethical and legal implications across the AI life cycle, from what kind of data is collected to the monitoring of this emerging technology.
Leading the charge is Lecturer of Philosophy and Religion Nathan C. Walker, a First Amendment and human-rights expert with an international AI research pedigree and experience working with one of the world’s leading AI platforms.
“Studying civil liberties and human rights uniquely positions me to identify where AI can go wrong,” Walker said. “If we go back to the basics—our core principles and our core values—we can actually remind humanity that eight decades of human-rights law have prepared us for this moment.” Walker has conducted AI research with the Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence in Munich, Germany and the Stellenbosch University in South Africa; both institutions now collaborate with the AI Ethics Lab. To read the full story.