Human Centric AI – The ethics team at DFKI
The increasing performance of AI systems and especially their actual use in the everyday lives of many people has made the ethical consideration of AI systems a socially relevant topic, which is now also perceived and discussed by the general public.
DFKI systematically includes ethical issues in its research activities. The extent to which ethical issues can and must be taken into account in a project’s context depends very much on the respective project’s focus. In the projects, DFKI also regularly collaborates with external experts in the respective field of ethics, complemented when needed for example by legal or psychological expertise.
With the guiding principle “Human centric AI”, the DFKI would like to emphasize, among other things, that research here should always serve the good of people. This also includes considering the use of AI systems from an ethical point of view.
At DFKI, there is an appointed ethics team that can serve as a first point of contact for employees in all ethics-related questions, whether related to a specific project or generally concerning the work at DFKI. The ethics team has developed a handout that should serve as a first orientation. It can be found here.
Iris Merget – Manager
Research Interests:
- Trusted AI
- ethical guidelines for AI systems
Why are ethics important to you?
The complexity of AI technologies is continuously reaching unprecedented levels, while their integration into countless societal sectors is constantly expanding.
In this context, at European level, ethics represents a vital component in ensuring that AI systems are developed in a trustworthy manner, building trust in the AI technology and its applications, making it more likely to be widely adopted.
By placing ethics at the forefront of AI development and deployment, I strongly endorse we can ensure not only that AI systems are developed with a clear ethical framework, but also that the general approach of AI technology will become effective and responsible on any level.
Mihai Maftei – Researcher
Research Interests:
- Applied Ethics
- Conversational AI Systems
- Ethics Assessment
Why are ethics important to you?
Artificial Intelligence is experiencing an impressive uptake, creating problem-solving capabilities, and becoming increasingly integrated in all societal sectors. For me, the accompaniment of the current AI expansion by constant calls for applied ethics reveals that AI ethics is not only a requirement imposed by various authorities, but a vital component to the responsible development of AI-driven technologies, and an effective instrument in generating added value for AI systems.
Rosa Esther Martin Peña - Researcher
Research Interests:
- Data ethics
- Machine ethics
- Explainable AI
- Social and emotional human-machine interaction
- Responsible AI decision-making
- Natural intelligence vs. artificial intelligence
- Embodied intelligence
Why are ethics important to you?
My interest in ethics goes beyond the traditional, abstract ethical frameworks or principles that often retrospectively seek to explain human behaviour or even the behaviour of so-called moral machines. Rather, ethics and values can be understood as an expression of the cognitive and affective dissonance that manifests itself in the everyday behaviour of members of a community. This dissonance is particularly evident in everyday decisions that systematically contradict the values that should actually be followed as a social norm. My ethical interest is to explore and understand why, when, how and for what purpose people tend to shirk their responsibilities. Without an awareness of responsibility, there is no way to correct the past and any attempt to foresee the negative consequences of actions is undermined.
So the question that arises is: what solutions can AI systems offer to better understand people - as they really are or as we perceive ourselves? This would allow the ethical rules and normative systems that emerge from these human-machine interactions to be better adapted to our actual nature, rather than the ideal image we have of ourselves.
Furthermore, this vision of technology as a tool for solving specific ethical problems requires a deeper understanding of human decision-making. It also stands in contrast to the common and increasingly widespread apocalyptic narratives that claim that AI systems will make humans superfluous in many areas. After all, it's about AI for humans, not AI without humans.
Samantha Prange – Assistant
Research Interests:
- The foundation of AI in ancient Greece philosophy and mythology
Why are ethics important to you?
Humankind will not accept an AI as support as long as it is unclear whether the AI could pose a danger. Therefore, ethics must be "programmed" into the development of AI systems.
Lisa-Marie Goltz - Research Assistant
Research Interests:
- Ethics of AI
- philosophical anthropology (especially Helmuth Plessner)
- normative ethics
Why are ethics important to you?
As a student of Philosophy-Neuroscience-Cognition, ethics is of great importance to me in order to understand what constitutes a good life. I advocate for fair AI that benefits all people, especially women, workers, people with disabilities and/or special needs and children. AI should serve as a tool that simplifies life for all people, especially minorities, rather than complicating it.
The ethics of AI is crucial as it ensures that human well-being is at the forefront of technological advancement. My goal is to ensure that AI serves society, improves quality of life and ensures fairness. Protecting every individual, as well as marginalised groups, through ethical standards in AI is crucial for a good life for all.
If AI is not built on moral and ethical principles, it cannot be used fairly or properly.
Kevin Baum - Advisor
Research Interests:
- Explainable AI
- Machine Ethics
- Trustworthy AI
- Computer Ethics
- Normative Ethics
- Deontic Logic
Why are ethics important to you?
What is possible and feasible, what actually happens or what consequences something can have, are questions that are as interesting as they are relevant. But answers to them do not tell us what we should do. Instead, we have to ask what should and may be. Ethics, as the science of morality, provides us with answers in this regard for at any rate a weighty and primary source of the normative. That is why it is important and why it is important to me.
Dr. Aljoscha Burchardt – Advisor
Research Interests:
- Language and knowledge technologies
Why are ethics important to you?
AI systems interact with the world and are increasingly perceived by humans as a kind of actor. In order to design and evaluate the systems well, interdisciplinary discourse is needed about standards, expectations, role models, fears and much more. This discourse gains from ethical reflection and becomes possible in part only through it.
Dr. Patrick Gebhard – Advisor
Research Interests:
His research focusses on emotions, empathy, social interaction and socio-technical systems. He analyses questions in the areas of health, well-being, social training and mobility. To this end, euroexplicit AI models, interactive systems, standards and evaluation methods are designed and developed.
Why are ethics important to you?
Values and norms are the basis for social interaction. AI models about emotions, empathy, social interaction and socio-technical systems support the further development of the concept of the human image. It is important to create transparency about how AI methods work in these areas and to promote discussions about them.
Dr. Christian Müller - Advisor
Research Interests:
My research interests are focused on the development of neuro-explicit AI for autonomous driving, which involves creating intelligent systems that can perceive, reason, and make decisions in complex driving scenarios. This is achieved by combining the power of symbolic reasoning and other forms of explicit knowledge with neural networks, which enables these systems to learn from data while also reasoning about the driving situation. By developing these algorithms, my team and I aim to improve the safety and efficiency of autonomous driving, ultimately making it a reality for everyday use. My research involves exploring the latest advancements in machine learning and AI, as well as developing novel algorithms that can accurately perceive the environment, understand traffic rules, and make decisions based on this information.
Why are ethics important to you?
While ethical concerns related to dilemmas and biases are critical considerations in the development and deployment of autonomous driving systems, I am interested in exploring how ethics can be integrated into the entire lifecycle of these systems. This involves going beyond the traditional ethical concerns of dilemmas and biases to consider the ethical implications of data collection, algorithmic decision-making, and deployment. By examining these broader ethical implications, I aim to develop and promote ethical frameworks that ensure the responsible and equitable use of autonomous driving technology.
Dr. Christiane Plociennik – Advisor
Research Interests:
- AI and ethics
- digitalisation and AI in the circular economy
- human-technology interaction
- AI in the factory
- Green AI
Why are ethics important to you?
AI is not just normal software that is programmed and then it runs. With AI, there is a kind of "intermediate layer" - the programmer writes program code, so to speak, which then generates program code again, and this is then executed. This "intermediate layer" creates ethical challenges that do not exist with normal software.
Dr. Tobias Wirth – Advisor
Research interests:
- Fair AI in practice
- court-proof AI
- AI in forensics
Why are ethics important to you?
Artificial Intelligence will move the world forward. In order for us to realise the potential of AI in many areas that affect our society, such as health, changes in the labour market, value creation in the economy, mobility, the energy transition and climate change, we need transparent and trustworthy AI. The development of AI systems is also a great responsibility. We need a design approach that incorporates ethical considerations and principles throughout the entire cycle from idea to product. But it is also clear that AI should support us humans, not replace them. As with all major technological leaps, AI applications harbour risks as well as opportunities. In order to make the best possible use of the opportunities offered by AI, we need to set legally binding rules for AI applications in addition to ethical principles.