Artificial Intelligence and the Emergent Turbulent Markets: New Challenges to Corporate Ethics Today

Abstract

Executive Summary

Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence displayed by machines, in contrast with the natural intelligence (NI) displayed by humans and other animals. It is also known as machine intelligence (MI) and is used because a machine mimics the cognitive functions that humans associate with human ability, such as logical reasoning, learning, and problem-solving. From Facebook’s automatic tagging suggestions to driverless cars, AI is rapidly progressing, and therefore, the ethical and moral question now is not whether AI should exist or not. AI exists and is already helping in improving various aspects of life such as health, safety, convenience, and overall standard of living. AI can replace or substitute routine mechanical, repetitive, boring jobs to free and unleash human creative and innovative talent to big thinking projects and humanizing work and society. AI can provide digital assistance in routine day-to-day tasks, detect cancer, diagnose rare diseases, and even prevent car crashes. AI can replace jobs, however, but not human work. Work as a duty, self-actualization and destiny will always continue, if not on the shop or office floors or boardrooms, at home, gardens, places of prayer and worship, and labs of creativity and innovation, in society and civilizations. While AI may indirectly free human talent for more meaningful and creative work, it can rarely participate in higher purposes such as creating bonding and belonging groups, in creating forgiving and compassionate communities, in drumming up small business, startups and corporations, and in harmonizing and humanizing this planet and cosmos for bliss or happiness. This chapter on AI, while investigating its market turbulence, will go beyond the legal aspects to ethical, moral, and spiritual dimensions and sacred opportunities of AI.

Citation

Mascarenhas, S.J., F.O.A.J. (2018), "Artificial Intelligence and the Emergent Turbulent Markets: New Challenges to Corporate Ethics Today", Corporate Ethics for Turbulent Markets (Corporate Ethics for Turbulent Markets), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 215-242. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-187-820181008