At the just concluded World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2020, more than 550 participants including a Nobel Prize winner, 7 Turing Award winners and 62 academicians from home and abroad, discussed the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. AI is developing rapidly, however, many problems are also coming with the fleeting progress.

Recently, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press has published a series of books on AI ethics including On the Future: Prospects for Humanity, Artificial Intelligence Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Taming Seviathan. These new books all discuss the future of AI and human beings from the viewpoint of morality and ethics. The conclusion is that scholars of Humanities and Social Sciences and philosophical thinkers cannot be absent in the process of AI’s development.

According to a report, by 2030, the global economic growth produced by AI will reach 15.7 trillion dollars, and China will account for 7 trillion of that. With no doubt, Artificial Intelligence will play a more and more important role in such areas as education, healthcare, and transportation, which is bound to bring people an unprecedented technological revolution. But at the same time, there are myriad worries brought by the development of AI technology.

In the future, will AI machines follow the humans’ moral principles? Can human beings get along well with AI? Will a super-intelligent AI usurp humans, seeing us as little more than ants? The newly published book, Artificial Intelligence Ethics by Professor Yan Yong from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, considers many questions about the problems AI might bring. The writer proposes a solution to the ethical problems of AI after discussing the robot rights and the safety of AI. The book also gives a comprehensive exposition of the ethical significance of Artificial Intelligence.

Martin Rees

“I think we need to ensure responsible innovation in all new technologies,” said Lord Martin Rees, an emeritus professor of cosmology and astrophysics at the University of Cambridge and the UK's Astronomer Royal. As one of the world's most eminent astronomers, he stresses in his book On the Future: Prospects for Humanity that with the rapid development of the computer and AI, the basic philosophical question of “Who am I?” will have some new semantics.

Meanwhile, the book Artificial Intelligence: Taming Leviathan discusses our AI future in terms of justice and ethics. Scholars have pointed out that the big data can’t be controlled merely by data companies. Similarly, AI cannot be mastered only by scientists and technology giants. The future of AI is not only the future of technology but also of all humanity. Therefore, scholars of Humanities and Social Sciences and should take an active part in discussions and give their views on how to ensure AI helps and not hinders us.