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As AI continues to advance, its role in life-and-death decisions sparks significant debate. From guiding autonomous vehicles to assisting in medical diagnoses, AI promises efficiency and improved outcomes. However, its inability to navigate moral dilemmas raises questions about its suitability for such critical tasks.
The automobile industry specifically is an ideal candidate for demonstrating how AI can save lives due to redundant human error. Autonomous vehicles produce massive data every day, which can improve traffic prediction and risk identification. However, there is an ethical problem in the use of AI in split-phase decision-making. For example, consider a self-driving automobile, which faces a decision of either endangering a driver or a pedestrian, which criteria does it consider?
California has already raised legislation that stops AI from making decisions with moral dilemmas, recognizing the inability of AI in such decision-making. Whereas AI can assimilate a lot of data in a short time, it is unable to make moral decisions on such matters.
Another area in which people can observe AI’s possibilities is healthcare. Technology is useful for radiologists as it helps them identify anomalies with scans faster to increase patients’ positive prognosis. It is believed that it will continue to be of greater importance with the move towards Digital Health Records.
However, fully automated decision-making in the health sector is still an issue of debate. For that reason in delivering important decisions, the reliance on key decisions to machines is not entirely acceptable. AI is at present helping doctors and is used to increase the penetration and accuracy of their decisions instead of replacing them.
A big problem concerning AI solutions in vital situations is the lack of ethical thought processes. As we know, machines and artificial intelligence cannot take into consideration the ethical neighbourhoods that surround their decision-making processes nor the capacity to grasp the seriousness of their decisions. A human can at least take into consideration the consequences of his actions.
Accountability also adds to this mix —attributing blame or credit to outcomes related to AI is not a simple task, as there are developers, operators and algorithms involved.
While AI excels in processing data and identifying patterns, it lacks the moral compass essential for life-and-death decisions. Its role should focus on augmenting human capabilities, not replacing them. Ethical oversight and clear accountability frameworks are crucial as AI continues to evolve. By ensuring that AI complements human judgment, society can responsibly harness its transformative potential.
