SARI Required Colloquium: What Is AI, What Is Ethics, and What Is AI Ethics? A Hands-On Scoping Review for Aspiring Engineers

Abstract

The guest speech offers a scoping review of the field of AI ethics and provides participants with the necessary tools to identify and address ethical and social challenges related to AI. It introduces inclusive definitions of AI, clarifies two distinct senses of ethics, and presents a framework for identifying ethical concerns throughout the AI lifecycle. The talk envisions aspiring engineers as both users and developers of AI. It will incorporate interactive components and cultivate a critical awareness of how AI impacts both our daily lives and work.

Bio

Bono Po-Jen Shih is a postdoctoral scholar at Penn State University, jointly affiliated with the Rock Ethics Institute and the Leonhard Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Education. He is a philosopher and engineering educator specializing in engineering ethics and AI literacy. Several of his works on AI literacy, AI policy, philosophy of AI, and AI in education are forthcoming in AI in Five Minutes (Equinox Publishing), The Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence (Bloomsbury Press), and Generative AI in Higher Education Assessment (Springer). He earned his PhD and MS in Science and Technology Studies from Virginia Tech, a graduate certificate in Engineering Education also from Virginia Tech, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University.