2025 is set to be the year that artificial intelligence (AI) becomes fully integrated into many aspects of our lives, with one survey predicting that 95% of all customer interactions will be powered by AI this year. Industries are expected to ramp up their AI adoption in order to remain competitive and provide better services that cater to a digital society. However, it isn’t just the commercial use of AI that is increasing. 
A survey by Harvard University economist David Deming found the adoption of AI is much faster than the speed at which Americans adopted personal computers and the internet, with 40% of Americans, ages 18 to 64, having some experience with generative AI. While the rise of AI is inevitable and exciting, it also raises many ethical questions about how the technology will be used in the coming years and whether it can be controlled.
The Rise of AI
Scientists and the tech industry have long predicted machine intelligence and its adoption into society. A guide to AI by MongoDB details how the first groundwork for neural networks was laid in 1947 by Walter Pitts and Warren McCulloch when they created a computational model for neural network architecture. The theory and development of AI evolved through the Turing Test in 1950, with heavy investment in the 80s into expert systems, vision systems, and robotics. This culminated in the 2000s with the rise of the internet and smart systems, leading to AI becoming a fully realized technology. As we noted in our post on AI Trends Shaping Tomorrow, AI is being used in multiple industries, including healthcare, cyber security, and quantum computing, which are pushing the technology towards revolutionary breakthroughs that will reshape society. Yet, while many are focused on the personal and commercial benefits of AI, more attention needs to be given to the discussion on the ethical uses of AI.
The Ethical Use of AI
AI has the potential to benefit the world, but only if it is used ethically and not solely for profit margins. This is why UNESCO listed four core values that should lay the foundations of any AI system: human rights and human dignity, living in peace, ensuring diversity and inclusiveness, and safeguarding the environment and ecosystem. In order to ensure that these recommendations are followed, the UNSECO has set several initiatives, including the Business Council for Ethics of AI, which serves as a platform for companies to promote ethical practices within the AI industry, and Women4Ethical AI, which is a new collaborative platform to ensure that women are represented equally in both the design and deployment of AI. While these initiatives are pushing for the ethical use of AI, there also needs to be a recognition of the ethical challenges of AI and how to tackle them.
Challenges Facing Ethical AI
Transparency
With AI still in its infancy, there is a lack of legislation and regulations governing the technology. In order for AI to be used ethically, companies and individuals need to be completely transparent in how they use it through a clear AI policy. This will ensure that whenever AI is used in any form, it is publicly acknowledged, and details are provided as to how exactly it is being implemented. This will guarantee a level of trust and responsibility from both sides.
Bias
AI systems have been shown to be biased, with an ethical AI article on Britannica Money finding that it produced discriminatory and unjust outcomes pertaining to hiring, lending, law enforcement, health care, and other important aspects of modern life. This is because the datasets the AI is trained on contain historical prejudices or lack representation from diverse groups. In order to combat this, there needs to be a vigorous auditing of datasets used to train AI and the establishment of ethical standards that prioritize fairness.
Authorship
The ability of AI to generate content using a few inputs has already had a positive impact in many industries. For example, AI in Publishing has a bright future as both authors and publishers can use the technology to streamline time-consuming processes and get quality work out faster without compromising artistic integrity. Yet, there are also many ethical questions around AI and authorship. 
Because AI draws from large datasets and material that has already been created, there is a big concern around the issue of plagiarism and not properly attributing the original work. The ability to generate content instantly will also have an increasing impact on creative jobs. Another big ethical issue is ownership and copyright, as the legal systems of most countries doesn’t recognize AI as a legal entity. In order to tackle these ethical challenges, there needs to be clear guidelines and transparency around the use of AI as an author. As AI becomes better at mimicking humans, ethical AI will need to be developed to detect the authorship of a piece and whether it has been plagiarised.
For much more information on AI, check out our Artificial Intelligence page.