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AI Ethics, Fairness & Explainability (Level 3)

Ethical issues that arise when AI systems are developed and deployed.

Key ethical issues​

  • Bias and fairness: training data may reflect historical inequalities leading to unfair outputs.
  • Privacy: collecting and using personal data can harm individuals if misused.
  • Transparency: many models are opaque, making it hard to explain decisions.
  • Accountability: who is responsible when an automated system causes harm?

Explainability​

Explainability is about making models and their decisions understandable. Approaches range from simple, interpretable models to tools that explain complex models' behaviour.

Classroom exercise​

  1. Find a short news article where AI caused controversy (bias, privacy, or accountability). Write 5 bullets summarising the issue and suggest one technical or policy mitigation.