Are tomorrow’s engineers ready to face AI’s ethical challenges?
A test version of a Roomba vacuum collects images of users in private situations.
- A test version of a Roomba vacuum collects images of users in private situations.
- The general public depends on software engineers and computer scientists to ensure these technologies are created in a safe and ethical manner.
- What’s more, some appear apathetic about the moral dilemmas their careers may bring – just as advances in AI intensify such dilemmas.
Aware, but unprepared
- We asked students about their experiences with ethical challenges in engineering, their knowledge of ethical dilemmas in the field and how they would respond to scenarios in the future.
- When asked, however, “Do you feel equipped to respond in concerning or unethical situations?” students often said no.
- “Do YOU know who I’m supposed to go to?” Another was troubled by the lack of training: “I [would be] dealing with that with no experience.
Other researchers have similarly found that many engineering students do not feel satisfied with the ethics training they do receive. Common training usually emphasizes professional codes of conduct, rather than the complex socio-technical factors underlying ethical decision-making. Research suggests that even when presented with particular scenarios or case studies, engineering students often struggle to recognize ethical dilemmas.
‘A box to check off’
- A study assessing undergraduate STEM curricula in the U.S. found that coverage of ethical issues varied greatly in terms of content, amount and how seriously it is presented.
- Additionally, an analysis of academic literature about engineering education found that ethics is often considered nonessential training.
- [Misusage] issues are not their concern.” One of us, Erin Cech, followed a cohort of 326 engineering students from four U.S. colleges.
- Following them after they left college, we found that their concerns regarding ethics did not rebound once these new graduates entered the workforce.
Joining the work world
- When engineers do receive ethics training as part of their degree, it seems to work.
- Along with engineering professor Cynthia Finelli, we conducted a survey of over 500 employed engineers.
- Over a quarter of these practicing engineers reported encountering a concerning ethical situation at work.
- Yet approximately one-third said they have never received training in public welfare – not during their education, and not during their career.
Elana Goldenkoff receives funding from National Science Foundation and Schmidt Futures. Erin A. Cech receives funding from the National Science Foundation.