The ethics of AI – dealing with difficult choices in a non-binary world

Eric Reiss has seen research that is faked, ignored, or twisted by internal company politics and by the cognitive bias of the design team. And he has seen countless dark patterns that suppress accessibility and diversity by promoting false beliefs and false security.

Whenever we say, “That’s not my problem,” or, “My company won’t let me do that,” we are handing over our ethical responsibility to someone else – for better or for worse. Do innocent decisions evolve so that they promote racism or gender discrimination through inadvertent cognitive bias or unwitting apathy? Far too often they do.

We, as technologists, hold incredible power to shape the things to come. I would like to share my thoughts with you so you can use this power to truly build a better world for those who come after us!

Eric Reiss has held a wide range of eclectic jobs: piano player (in a house of ill-repute), senior copywriter (in an ad-house of ill-repute), player-piano repairman, adventure-game creator, and stage director. His experiences have served him admirably as a designer, content strategist, information architect, interaction designer, and usability “expert” – although he can’t explain exactly how.

In more mundane lives, Eric has been a two-term president of the Information Architecture Institute and Professor of Usability and Design at IE Business School in Madrid, Spain.

Today, Eric is CEO of the FatDUX Group in Copenhagen, Denmark, a leading UX company with offices and associates in over a dozen cities worldwide. He also has several books to his credit, including the best-selling “Usable Usability,” which is now available in five languages.

You’ll find him on Twitter at @elreiss.