Codes of ethics play an important role in many sciences. Such codes aim to provide a framework within which researchers can understand and anticipate the possible ethical issues that their research might raise, and to provide guidelines about what is, and is not, regarded as ethical behaviour. In the medical sciences, for example, codes of ethics are fundamentally embedded within the research culture of the discipline, and explicit consideration of ethical issues is a standard expectation when research projects are planned and undertaken. In this project, we aim to start developing a code of ethics for AI research by learning from this interdisciplinary experience and extending its lessons into new areas. The project will bring together three Oxford researchers with expertise in artificial intelligence, philosophy, and applied ethics.

Codes of ethics play an important role in many sciences. Such codes aim to provide a framework within which researchers can understand and anticipate the possible ethical issues that their research might raise, and to provide guidelines about what is, and is not, regarded as ethical behaviour. In the medical sciences, especially, codes of ethics are fundamentally embedded within the research culture, and explicit consideration of ethical issues is a standard expectation when research projects are planned and undertaken. The aim of this project is to develop a solid basis for a code of artificial intelligence (AI) research ethics, learning from the scientific and medical community’s experience with existing ethical codes, and extending its lessons into three important and representative areas where artificial intelligence comes into contact with ethical concerns: AI in medicine and biomedical technology, autonomous vehicles, and automated trading agents. We will also explore whether the design of ethical research codes might usefully anticipate, and potentially ameliorate, the risks of future research into superintelligence. The project brings together three Oxford researchers with highly relevant expertise in artificial intelligence, philosophy, and applied ethics, and will also draw strongly on other research activity within the University of Oxford.