The Rise of the Robots – Erwartungshorizont
- Monologischer Teil
Erste Aufgabe
the “hype”
- very negative attitude towards AI: a dystopian future vision in which human labour is no longer required (l. 3)
- AI takes over your job/ your life and you lack the power to fight this (ll. 1-3)
- according to this view, AI will make our lives worse, it will control our lives instead of improving them (with the exception of a small elite that will live in incredible luxury) (ll. 14-17)
the author
- is a “tech evangelist” (l. 4), which means that she is of the opinion that technology and engineering in general can improve our lives (ll. 4-6)
- she is aware of the fact that the current changes in the fields of data processing and artificial intelligence can actually be regarded as an irrevocable technological revolution and that no one really knows where this might be going and how exactly these data are going to be used (ll. 7-13)
- she is also aware of the fact that these developments could make our lives worse (humans as slaves of the technologies that they have purchased) (ll. 14-17)
- yet, she does not share dystopic visions of an automated world in which humans are made obsolete (see above) because she is convinced that we can make sure that we benefit from these developments by overcoming our fears, by actively engaging and defining our relationship with this new technology and especially by becoming clear about the question who is in charge of this process (ll. 18-23)
- therefore, according to the author the technological revolution that we are currently facing is nothing that we should be afraid of but something that we should engage with to make sure it benefits us
Zweite Aufgabe
individuelle Schülerantworten, mögliche Aspekte:- the author is right when she does not join in the dystopian hype of a world ruled by robots
- she is also right when she says that the current technological revolution is something we can benefit from for our future lives [Beispiele aus dem Unterricht]
- on the other hand, she is also right when she admits that it can make our lives worse; however, this is not just about dystopian fantasies of humans enslaved by technologies; there are downsides to these new technologies that are much more real [Beispiele aus dem Unterricht]
- among these, the uncontrollability of what happens to our data is among the most important issues
- therefore, I also think that we must define our relationship with this new technology; this includes clear rules and boundaries as to what happens with our data [Beispiele aus dem Unterricht]
- the question is whether we will actually be able to do this in time or whether technology is not already ahead of politics; if we do not catch up, we might end up not being ruled by robots, but by “giant web crawlers” controlling our data and thus, to some extent, our lives
- Dialogischer Teil
Erweiterung des Umfelds der Aufgabe
Der erste Impuls soll die SuS dazu anhalten, das zentrale Anliegen der Autorin, nämlich den verantwortungsvollen Umgang mit den neuen Technologien üben, zu kommentieren, sofern dies nicht schon im Rahmen der zweiten Aufgabe zum monologischen Teil geschehen ist.
In ähnlicher Art und Weise soll der zweite Impuls vertiefend die Frage aufwerfen, die mit dem Problem des verantwortlichen Umgangs gekoppelt ist: Wer entscheidet, wie ein verantwortlicher Umgang aussehen soll?
- Explain how we can “face up to the responsibilities of this new era”.
- we need to be aware of the benefits but also the potential risks of artificial intelligence [Beispiele aus dem Unterricht, z. B. bias in facial and voice recognition systems]
- we need to make informed decisions as to which of these technologies we let into our lives, knowing what kind of data we feed them (though this may not always be possible)
- the development of those technologies cannot take place regardless of ethical questions and without regulations, even if this may slow down the rate of innovation
- The author poses the question of who is in charge when it comes to defining our relationship with technology. Explain how you would answer this question.
- AI developers themselves have an ethical obligation: they must be transparent in their efforts and intentions and must make sure that their efforts are beneficial to humanity
- similarly, companies that use these technologies must commit themselves to certain ethical standards
- government regulation has to ensure transparency and human accountability
- since digital technology is not limited by national borders, supra-national regulations must be the basis for national ones
- however, they must go beyond voluntary commitment and recommendations; there must be enforcement mechanisms, too
- the EU, for example, has an ambition to lead the framing of policies governing AI globally
- Explain how we can “face up to the responsibilities of this new era”.
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