Exploring AI Ethical Issues, Hacktivism vs. Hacking, and IoT Privacy Implications

Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

Essay Topics: (Choose one)

The World Economic Forum identified top 9 ethical issues in artificial intelligence. One of which is “How do we protect against unintended consequences?”

Are we overreacting? What are some possible unintended consequences in the development of machine learning and AI, and what are possible options to protect against such unintended consequences?

Hacktivism is the act of hacking, or breaking into a computer system, for a politically or socially motivated purpose. The individual who performs an act of hacktivism is said to be a hacktivist. The most notable group of hacktivists is perhaps the “Anonymous”.

Are there any other differences between hacking and Hacktivism? Are the hackers’ actions justified by who they choose to target, for example consider Ashley Maddison, the Whitehouse, Sony. What about ISIS or sites showing child pornography? If you think that hacktivism is never justified, explain your rationale. If you think actions of hacktivism is sometimes justified, how then should the law deal with hacktivists in cases like these?

A Panopticon Prison is a type of prison designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century.

The concept of the design is to allow all inmates to be observed by a single guard without the inmates being able to tell whether or not they are being watched.

Although it is physically impossible for the single watchman to observe all cells at once, the fact that the inmates cannot know when they are being watched means that all inmates must act as though they are watched at all times, effectively controlling their own behaviour constantly.

With Internet of Things gaining interest, and people willingly put monitoring devices (such as Google Home/Amazon Echo and Alexa) into their homes, is there a risk that one day we ended up living in a new kind of Panopticon Prison? If privacy is a concern, why is IoT gaining interests? And How would IoT affect the World in the next ten years?