Ethics and Value Pluralism

Which values should AI encode, and who decides? This sub-article expands Section 4.4 of Philosophy.

Competing Frameworks

• Utilitarian vs. rights-based ethics.
• Cultural variation in moral norms.
• Trade-offs between privacy, freedom, safety, and fairness.

Who Decides?

• Democratic input, stakeholder deliberation, and international coordination.
• Risk of a few companies or states imposing values globally.

Pluralism vs. Convergence

• Should AI be value-neutral, or embed particular values?
• Some argue for transparency and user control over AI’s value choices.

Practical Implications

• Data annotation and RLHF encode human preferences; those preferences are not universal.
• Governance must make value choices explicit and contestable.

Why It Matters

Alignment without agreement on values risks imposing one worldview on everyone.

Sources

• Gabriel, I. (2020). Artificial Intelligence, Values, and Alignment.
• UNESCO. Recommendation on the Ethics of AI (2021).

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