A Book Review of The Ethical Algorithm: The Science of Socially Aware Algorithm Design by Kearns and Roth; and Thoughts for Legal Information Professionals

Abstract

AbstractThis article consists of two parts. The first part is a review of the book entitled, ‘The Ethical Algorithm: The Science of Socially Aware Algorithm Design’, written by Professors Michael Kearns and Aaron Roth of the Computer and Information Science Department, University of Pennsylvania. The book was published in 2019 by Oxford University Press. The second part consists of thoughts learned from the book and how they could be applied to the work of legal information management professionals when facing tasks related to the ethical algorithms in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. How online privacy continues to be the main concern in the AI and robot era will be discussed, as well as the rise of concerns over AI and robots and how they might make unfair decisions toward vulnerable populations which could then become acts of discrimination. Examples of real-world problems of AI and robotics are also noted in this article.