Senior Seminar Blog

The topic I'm most interested in learning more about is Moral Outsourcing in AI . Moral outsourcing in AI is the idea of letting machines make ethical decisions on our behalf. For example, autonomous vehicles make split-second decisions in the case of an accident. As AI is becoming more integrated into areas such as autonomous vehicles, criminal justice, and healthcare, the overall question I am looking to investigate is who is  responsible when things go wrong. I will research how humans will draw the line between helpful automation and a detachment from human judgment and whether to hold AI and the people behind it accountable for moral failures.

The main surprising factor for me was the sheer amount of data that is collected by companies. I was not expecting such small details to be collected. I now see that these small details like contacts, location, etc, are all a way of linking your data together. When companies take all these pieces and glue them together, they can essentially create a roadmap of your life and use that information to make predictions. I looked at Discord's privacy policy and honestly did not find many things out of the normal. Discord appears to have a structured and well-documented privacy policy that I think isn't too overbearing. They discuss many what-ifs such as "what if they take payments" and how they will store that information. Additionally, I felt Discord's policy was super easy to digest and read. They didn't try to use bloat words and difficult terms that would make a normal user have a difficult time understanding.

     Before CitizenFour, I knew that the government had access to a lot of our personal data or had the means to retrieve it. However, I was unprepared for the overwhelming amount of data they had access to. The most interesting portion of the documentary for me was the amount of secrecy the government holds. Throughout the documentary, there was little to no information on how the government was responding to Snowden other than sending lawyers. They did not appear to address anything that Snowden brought up specifically and thus created more anonymity.     From now on, I am going to keep a closer eye on my data and will take steps to privatize it as best as I can. While I do believe the government has a reason for keeping an eye on individuals, keeping mass amounts of data from the general population seems unnecessary and like an invasion of privacy for the American people.

The dicussions brought to my attention many ethical considerations within the realm of beekeeping software. Intellectual Property One of the first eye-openers for me was the complexity of intellectual property in software development. Understanding who holds the ownership of code and what rights they have can impact both the development and distribution of technology.  Data Collection and Privacy Concerns Another area that was talked about was the ehtical handling of data. With beekeeping software like Hive Tracks, collecting extensive data on the bee colony health and activities, questions about data privacy and security are kept in mind. Talking about the implications of data storage, user consent, and company transparency when it comes to handle sensitive information has emphasizes the importance of ethical data practices that respect a users privacy. Outsourcing and Liability The decision to outsource certain software functionalities, such as user account management or payment ...

Listening to my classmate's different perspectives on ethics has made me think about my own ethics more and how I may not fit into a specific category. Engaging in these discussions has encouraged me to take a step back and critically think about how I may approach some situations. It was interesting to hear different perspectives on people's ethics and how even though they may have grown up differently, many share the same core principles of being a good person. It's good that so many people align with the ethical principle of minimizing harm to other people and maximizing the benefits.

Computing Experiences In Class The in-class computing experience that stands out most to me would have to be taking Software Engineering. While our code wasn't complex, it was cool to see how our team of 5 conquered issues that arose. Issues we faced such as getting the tests to work, Git problems, and just general code logic. Working in a team made me appreciate how different minds can work together and compensate for each other's weaknesses. Out Of Class The out-of-class experience that affected me and my outlook on learning was when I tried making a 2D platformer using the Godot engine. Previously, I had no experience in any game design so I only went into it with my basic knowledge of Java/C++. The relatively simple game I ended my development with gave me an immense appreciation for the sheer amount of work that goes into it.  I found that coding was only scratching the surface of game design. Other elements such as map design, music, balance, and many others were the real...