Page 92 - The Ethics of ASEAN

The Ethics of ASEAN

and widely beneficial. So, although we are in early stages in the use of AI, we see that
ethics is imbedded in how governments define their AI policies.
Choices made by business impact employment and the work experience as they adapt
their business models, operations, work designs and employee interactions to AI. Philippa
pointed out how algorithmic management, where algorithms are responsible for decisions
and execution of human labour, has an overwhelmingly negative impact on humans at
work in terms of perceptions of unfairness, low trust, breaking the psychological contract
of work, low job satisfaction, lower life satisfaction and reduced engagement in work.
Companies need people capable of making ethical decisions that influence work design,
behaviour and human interaction.
Ultimately, we have to remember that no matter how much technology appears to be
cognitive, algorithms do not think the way humans do. AI remains a mathematical formula
– though a highly complex one. According to Philippa, such impacts raise ethics concerns
over the rapid development of technology in work management. From a human resource
perspective, the AI- human interaction is an important challenge to get right. Philippa
suggests that perhaps the best way to approach digital transformation in the ASEAN
workplace is to not replace or displace workers by algorithmic management but to design
AI-human complementarity and AI-enabled work processes.
Apart from the influence from the policy sector and the business sector, tertiary
education is the third area impacting ASEAN’s regional career and work dynamics.
Businesses and companies are changing so regional work opportunities are shifting. Low-
skilled workers are especially at risk as their work is displaced by technology and high-
skilled talent is increasingly in demand. Higher education needs to prepare students for
lifelong reskilling and upskilling in a digital ASEAN.
ASEAN Member States are generating new education and workplace initiatives to
promote technology and future-oriented human capital. But the focus on tech is not just
to equip the ASEAN workforce with skills. Philippa notes that the top skills in demand are
actually human skills. What is essential from the ethical perspective is how we can ensure
that ASEAN workers have the knowledge and understanding needed to work effectively
and safely with artificial intelligence in their respective professional space. In the end,
ethical standards and frameworks regarding the use of such technology in the ASEAN
workspace are needed. This requires multidisciplinary efforts from the governmental
sector, the business sector and the education sector to create AI laws and policies guided
by human centricity and ASEAN ethics.

Ran Baik: AI itself can be educated to respect human ethics

Dr Ran Baik discussed how technology has shifted the landscape of higher education.
Looking into the patterns of industrial history, we can see that the primary focus at the
beginning is focused on the economy while ethics is developed later. It takes time and
effort for society to learn from the issues and impact to build an ethical dialogue and guide
leadership.

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