Page 102 - The Ethics of ASEAN

The Ethics of ASEAN

How businesses mix people and
machines, govern the human-machine
work combination and operationalise
work will be at the heart of ethical
concerns

If we consider traditional work ethics and working conditions
in ASEAN, we can expect fundamental questions about the
assumptions underlying how work is valued and managed. For
example, in ASEAN we have some of the longest work hours in
the world with averages still up to around 40-45 hours per week.
This compares to Europe where working time has shrunk to
around 34-35 hours per week.
We still have industrial era values deeply rooted in ASEAN
work policies that are leading to the problematic situation
where human workers are forced to work ever longer hours
and increase their productivity while machines increase
productivity using algorithms.
What this means for the ASEAN work ethic is that personal
time and work-life balance are being sacrificed. Governments
and organisations need to consider the ethics of human
outcomes, results-based ethics, in the design of work using
artificial intelligence and automation.

Adrian Tan: NGOs and CSOs are needed to
address future of ASEAN work ethics

According to Adrian Tan, Future of Work thought leader at
Singapore Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP),
the introduction of high technology production and AI-assisted
production will have a huge impact in reorganising work in
businesses.
In ASEAN the cost of labour is increasing while the rate of
birth in many countries is shrinking. Businesses know that they
need to develop technology, robotics and algorithms in their
business models in order to increase productivity. The ethical
question is not if but how displacement of the human workforce
should be done.

Adrian illustrates with a recent example of the versatility of
Figure 5: Adrian Tan, Future
of Work thought leader work performed by AI. Who would have thought that we would
at Singapore Institute so quickly see AI producing art? While we may have got used
for Human Resource
Professionals (IHRP) to algorithms and advanced technology used in data analysis,
the AI in the artistic space comes as a shock, and raises ethical

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