The spread of the Internet and AI is greatly changing our lives. Along with convenience, new risks and ethical challenges have emerged, making information literacy and scientific and technological ethics essential perspectives.
Basic Knowledge
In an information society, information and knowledge become central resources of the economy and society. While the spread of the Internet has dramatically accelerated the circulation of information, problems such as fake news, online abuse, copyright infringement, and leaks of personal information have also become more serious. The ability to select, evaluate, and use information correctly is called information literacy.
The Act on the Protection of Personal Information was enacted in 2003 to protect personal information (revised in 2022). The right to control one's own personal information is called the right to privacy.
The development of AI (artificial intelligence) affects every area of society, including labor, medicine, and education. Ethical issues concerning the transparency, fairness, and allocation of responsibility in AI decision-making (AI ethics) have become international challenges.
Ethical issues surrounding advances in life sciences, such as genetic manipulation, cloning technology, organ transplantation, and end-of-life care, are called bioethics. The idea of managing the benefits and risks of science and technology as a whole society is called technology assessment.
Information Literacy (The ability to collect, evaluate, and use information accurately)
Act on the Protection of Personal Information (Japan's law establishing the proper handling of personal information; enacted in 2003)
AI Ethics (Ethical guidelines concerning fairness, transparency, accountability, and other issues in the development and use of AI)
Bioethics (An academic field dealing with ethical problems accompanying the development of life science and technology)
Digital Divide (Differences in access to and ability to use information technology, occurring between generations, regions, and countries)
Technology Assessment (A system for evaluating the social effects of science and technology in advance and managing risks)
Further Study (Background and Significance)
The information society can also be understood as a new stage of civilization following industrial society, known as the "Third Wave" (Toffler). The spread of social media has enabled individuals to send information to the entire world, but filter bubbles, in which people receive only information they like, and echo chambers, in which only similar opinions are amplified, have become challenges for democracy.
In bioethics, "informed consent" has become a basic principle of medicine: a patient's consent based on sufficient explanation. Society as a whole must address the ethical question of "how far should we allow it?" raised by advanced technologies such as analysis of the human genome, gene therapy, and assisted reproductive medicine. Regarding AI, the issue of "algorithmic accountability"—who is responsible for systems that replace human judgment—is being debated worldwide.
- Information literacy is the ability to select, judge, and use information.
- The Act on the Protection of Personal Information was enacted in 2003 and substantially revised in 2022.
- The digital divide exists between generations, regions, and countries.
- A basic principle of bioethics is informed consent.
- Challenges of AI ethics include transparency, fairness, accountability, and effects on employment.
- Filter bubbles risk obstructing the formation of diverse opinions in a democracy.
Points to Note (Easily Confused)
① The right to privacy (the right to control one's personal information) and the right to know (the right to request disclosure of public information) are different rights. ② Copyright (rights concerning creative works) and personal information (identifying information such as names and addresses) have different objects of protection. ③ Fake news (deliberately false information) and misinformation (false information spread without intent) are distinct concepts. ④ Technology assessment means the "evaluation and regulation" of technology; it does not reject technological development itself.
Practice
- Explain why information literacy is important in modern society, relating it to the problems of fake news and filter bubbles.
- Give two ethical challenges brought about by the development of AI technology and explain each.
- Explain the principle of "informed consent" in bioethics.