(a) The application of Artificial Intelligence as a dependable source of input for administrative rational decision-making is a debatable issue. Critically examine the statement from the ethical point of view. (b) “Ethics encompasses several key dimensions that are crucial in guiding individuals and organizations towards morally responsible behaviour.” Explain the key dimensions of ethics that influence human actions. Discuss how these dimensions shape ethical decision-making in the professional context.
Subtopic: Ethics Theory · AI in administration and dimensions of ethics
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219 words · target 150 words · 20 min
(a) AI as input for administrative decision-making
AI can process vast data, spot patterns and reduce human fatigue and inconsistency in tasks like welfare targeting, tax scrutiny and predictive policing. Yet treating it as a dependable basis for rational decisions is ethically debatable.
- Bias and fairness: models trained on historical data reproduce caste, gender and class bias (e.g. discriminatory risk-scoring).
- Accountability gap: opaque 'black-box' outputs make it unclear who is responsible for a wrong decision.
- Due process and dignity: denying benefits or liberty on algorithmic grounds can violate natural justice and treat citizens as data points.
- Privacy and consent: large-scale profiling risks surveillance overreach.
AI should therefore assist, not replace, human judgment, with transparency, human-in-the-loop control and audit.
(b) Key dimensions of ethics and professional decisions
Ethics operates across several dimensions: personal integrity and character (virtue); consequences and public welfare (utilitarian); duties, rules and rights (deontological); care and empathy in relationships; and professional codes and constitutional values. In practice a civil servant weighs outcomes for citizens against duties and rights, filters them through personal integrity and the code of conduct, and tempers them with compassion. These dimensions jointly shape morally responsible choices: an official rejecting a biased AI recommendation, for instance, is applying duty (fairness), consequences (avoiding harm) and integrity together. Sound decisions emerge from balancing, not isolating, these dimensions.
What an examiner expects to see
- AI aids scale, consistency and pattern-detection but is not a fully dependable moral decision-maker
- Algorithmic bias reproduces historical caste/gender/class discrimination
- Black-box opacity creates an accountability and explainability gap
- Algorithmic denial of benefits/liberty can breach natural justice and human dignity
- Safeguards: transparency, human-in-the-loop, audits, privacy protection
- Dimensions of ethics: virtue/integrity, consequences, duties/rights, care, professional codes
- Professional decisions balance these dimensions rather than applying one in isolation
- AI should augment, not replace, human ethical judgment in governance
Concrete cases, schemes and judgments
- Biased predictive-policing and welfare-scoring systems studied globally
- Puttaswamy (2017) recognising privacy as a fundamental right, limiting profiling
- NITI Aayog's National Strategy for AI stressing responsible/ethical AI ('AI for All')
- EU AI Act's risk-tiered, human-oversight approach as a governance model