Taking Care Of The Future Through Stewardship In The Present
The translation of ethical theory into practical responsibility forms the premise of Peters et al.’s paper on how to articulate frameworks for ethical practice in product development. It frames responsible innovation as a means of ‘taking care of the future through collective stewardship of science and innovation in the present’ (Peters et al., 2020), by embedding responsible ethical deliberation into the innovation process itself. However, they acknowledge such broad principles fall short of actionable practice in fast-moving engineering teams, and do not provide enough contextual guidance for teams to make use of them.
Yet through the insertion of actionable ethical considerations into the contextual frameworks of research, insights, ideation, prototypes and evaluation, Peters et al. propose responsible principles which can be specific enough to provide answers in practice, yet broad enough to apply universally. These frameworks of responsibility are then supported by spherical frameworks for the use of technology in the real world such as adoption, interface, task, behavior, life and society. They are intended to provide means of organizing ethical thinking which allow for the identification of contradictory parallel effects, while acknowledging a value pluralism, ‘the view that there are multiple values that are equally fundamental, and yet may sometimes conflict with each other’. (Peters et al., 2020). This process rigor is particularly important for products centered in human wellness, and Peters et al. articulate where these principles have been applied with attention to transparency and accountability, while conceding there is much work ahead to normalize this more broadly.
References:
Peters, D., Vold, K., Robinson, D. & Calvo, R.A. (2020). Responsible AI—Two Frameworks for Ethical Design Practice. IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society. [Digital File]. Retrieved from: https://canvas.upenn.edu/courses/1693062/files/122342365/download?download_frd=1.
