Publication Types:

Algorithms and Autonomy The Ethics of Automated Decision Systems

Algorithms and ethicsTechnology and ethics
Alan Rubel, Clinton Castro, Adam Pham
Algorithms and Autonomy The Ethics of Automated Decision Systems, Cambridge University Press (2021)
Publication year: 2022

Algorithms influence every facet of modern life: criminal justice, education, housing, entertainment, elections, social media, news feeds, work… the list goes on. Delegating important decisions to machines, however, gives rise to deep moral concerns about responsibility, transparency, freedom, fairness, and democracy. Algorithms and Autonomy connects these concerns to the core human value of autonomy in the contexts of algorithmic teacher evaluation, risk assessment in criminal sentencing, predictive policing, background checks, news feeds, ride-sharing platforms, social media, and election interference. Using these case studies, the authors provide a better understanding of machine fairness and algorithmic transparency. They explain why interventions in algorithmic systems are necessary to ensure that algorithms are not used to control citizens’ participation in politics and undercut democracy. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Algorithms, Agency, and Respect for Persons

Algorithms and ethicsTechnology and ethics
Alan Rubel, Clinton Castro, and Adam Pham
Social Theory & Practice (forthcoming)
Publication year: 2021
Algorithmic systems and predictive analytics play an increasingly important role in various aspects of modern life. Scholarship on the moral ramifications of such systems is in its early stages, and much of it focuses on bias and harm. This paper argues that in understanding the moral salience of algorithmic systems it is essential to understand the relation between algorithms, autonomy, and agency. We draw on several recent cases in criminal sentencing and K–12 teacher evaluation to outline four key ways in which issues of agency, autonomy, and respect for persons can conflict with algorithmic decision-making. Three of these involve failures to treat individual agents with the respect they deserve. The fourth involves distancing oneself from a morally suspect action by attributing one’s decision to take that action to an algorithm, thereby laundering one’s agency.