Page 95 - The Ethics of ASEAN

Ethical Challenges of our Digital World

A thousand years of history and contemporary evidence make
one thing clear: progress depends on the choices we make about
technology. New ways of organizing production and communication
can either serve the narrow interests of an elite or become the
foundation for widespread prosperity.

In ASEAN, digital technologies create emerging ethical issues but at the same time
research institutions, policy makers and civil society organisations strive to ensure
human-centric and equitable rules-based ethics for innovations and applications.
Dr Nguyen Truong Thang’s overview of ASEAN Science, Technology and Innovation
policies and work plans show the interaction between rules-based ethics and emerging
ethical issues which are constantly being created in multiple technology areas. He points
out that ASEAN’s consensus type of collaboration can be a drag for policy-making when it
comes to emerging ethics. However, he also demonstrates the benefit of ASEAN’s rules-
based ethics committees that raise awareness and collaborate across borders.
Kelly Forbes comes at digital ethics from another angle. Her background in
international law provides foundational rules-based ethics under the heading of
“Trustworthy AI”. This means that any decision made by an algorithm in ASEAN should be
human-centric, protect privacy, ensure fairness, be explainable and clearly define who is
accountable. She also describes how ASEAN is in a difficult ethical position as a neutral
and non-aligned regional community that must deal with the intense rivalry between China
and the US in the field of AI, both having different ethical principles, especially in the areas
of privacy and transparency.
Philippa Penfold takes the worker perspective on AI ethics. She notes that AI is not
just a tool to equip the ASEAN workforce with increased productivity. With AI, notes
Philippa, the top skills in demand are actually human skills. What is essential from the
ethical perspective is how we ensure that ASEAN workers have the knowledge and
understanding to work effectively and safely with artificial intelligence in their respective
professional space. In the end, she concludes, ethical standards and frameworks are
needed for the use of AI in the governmental sector, private sector and the education
sector. Using results-based ethics, Philippa recommends designing AI-human work
processes rather simply replacing workers by algorithmic management of human labour
which research shows has an overwhelmingly negative impact on people.
Dr Ran Baik of South Korea’s Honam University describes the ethical goal of the
university’s SMART education initiative to help students build the essential skills of 21st
century life. Dr Ran describes “educated AI” where ethical principles are imbedded for
better machine learning processes and outcomes.
Erica Lesmana, representing ASEAN youth in this dialogue, addresses the ethics of
social media and networks. ASEAN youth are experiencing the vulnerability of unethical
use of social media, as in the case of cyber- bullying, which has resulted in a form of
leadership ethics where youth groups are learning how to use awareness, advocacy and
action to counter unethical use of social media. She returns however to a deeper reflection
on ASEAN youth which was raised in our leadership ethics dialogue by student leader

(Author), Simon Johnson (Author), Public Affairs 2023 ISBN 1541702530

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