Imagine a chatbot that suddenly becomes aggressive, or a test version of a Roomba vacuum that captures images of people in private moments. Or consider a Black woman wrongly identified as a suspect due to facial recognition software, which often struggles to accurately identify women and people of color.
As reported by The Conversation, these aren’t just minor glitches; they highlight deeper issues. As artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning become more common in our daily lives, ethical concerns are growing. These include privacy issues, biases in coding related to race and gender, and the spread of misinformation.
People rely on software engineers and computer scientists to create these technologies safely and ethically. However, recent research, along with studies from scholars, reveals a concerning trend: many future engineers seem unprepared to handle the social impacts of their work. Some even appear indifferent to the ethical dilemmas their careers might present, especially as AI advances.
In ongoing research, The Conversation interviewed over 60 master’s students in electrical engineering and computer science at a top U.S. engineering program. They asked about their experiences with ethical challenges in engineering, their understanding of ethical dilemmas in the field, and how they would handle future scenarios.
Here’s the good news: most students are aware of AI’s potential dangers and are concerned about privacy and the potential for harm, such as how biases can be embedded in algorithms, whether intentionally or not.
One student was particularly concerned about the environmental impact of AI, noting that AI companies are using more and more energy with minimal benefits. Others raised issues about the applications of AI, such as its use in military technology and the creation of fake information and images.
When asked if they felt prepared to handle unethical situations, many students said no. “Flat out no. It’s kind of scary,” one student admitted. “Do YOU know who I’m supposed to go to?”
Another student was worried about the lack of training: “I’d be dealing with that with no experience. Who knows how I’ll react?” Other researchers have found that many engineering students are not satisfied with the ethics training they receive. This training often focuses on professional codes of conduct rather than the complex social and technical factors involved in ethical decision-making. Research shows that even when given specific scenarios or case studies, engineering students often struggle to identify ethical dilemmas.
Accredited engineering programs are required to include topics related to professional and ethical responsibilities in some capacity. However, ethics training is rarely emphasized in formal curricula. A study of undergraduate STEM curricula in the U.S. found that the coverage of ethical issues varied greatly in content, amount, and seriousness. Additionally, an analysis of academic literature on engineering education found that ethics is often considered nonessential training.
Many engineering faculty are dissatisfied with students’ understanding of ethics but feel pressured by colleagues and students to prioritize technical skills in their limited class time. In a 2018 study, researchers interviewed over 50 engineering faculty and found that many were hesitant or even resistant to including public welfare issues in their classes. More than a quarter of the professors saw ethics and societal impacts as outside the scope of “real” engineering work.
About a third of the students we interviewed in the ongoing research project shared this indifference toward ethics training, viewing ethics classes as just a box to check off. If I’m paying money to attend ethics class as an engineer, I’m going to be furious, one student said.
These attitudes sometimes influence how students see the role of engineers in society. One student in a current study said that an engineer’s responsibility is just to create and design things and tell people how to use them. Issues of misuse, they felt, were not their concern.
Erin Cech tracked a group of 326 engineering students from four U.S. colleges. This research, published in 2014, showed that students became less concerned about their ethical responsibilities and the public consequences of technology as they progressed through their degree. After they graduated, their concerns about ethics did not improve.
However, when engineers receive ethics training as part of their degree, it seems to be effective. When over 500 employed engineers were surveyed, those who had formal ethics and public welfare training in school were more likely to understand their responsibility to the public and recognize the need for collective problem-solving. Compared to those who did not receive training, they were 30% more likely to notice an ethical issue at work and 52% more likely to take action.
More than a quarter of practicing engineers have faced ethical issues at work. However, about a third have never received any training in public welfare, either during their education or their career. This lack of ethics education raises serious concerns about how well-prepared future engineers will be to handle the complex ethical challenges in their field, especially with AI. It’s important to note that the responsibility for public welfare doesn’t rest solely on engineers, designers, and programmers. Companies and legislators also play a crucial role.
However, the people who design, test, and refine this technology are the public’s first line of defense, and must take training seriously.
