Korean value of ‘Jeong’
Abstract: Developing ethical artificial intelligence has become a crucial problem, especially as advancements in machine learning lead to its increasing deployment across a broad spectrum of social and political processes. The frequent assertions of the independence of science from culture and religion have been widely debunked, and the social impact of digital technology makes this reality increasingly obvious. Drawing on religious and cultural values helps expose the lacunae in current approaches to robotics and AI, and creates opportunity to design AI for human flourishing. The Korean value of jeong offers a specific example of such cultural theology, and can be applied in the ongoing development of AI and related technologies. Jeong is a complex social phenomenon including empathy, solidarity, and mutual obligation. Making jeong a priority in the generation of new AI technologies will be relevant to the use of AI in human-human and, theoretically, human-robot interactions. The conjunction of theological, religious studies, and social AI approaches shows that ethical AI depends on more than the current focus on western philosophical ethics. If AI design incorporates human-human and human-AI jeong, the challenges of surveillance, algorithmic bias, and even hypothetical AI superintelligence become more manageable.
Author bio: Robert M Geraci is Professor of Religious Studies at Manhattan College. He is the author of several books, including Futures of Artificial Intelligence: Perspectives from India and the US (Oxford 2022) and Apocalyptic AI: Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality (Oxford 2010). His research has been supported by the US National Science Foundation, the American Academy of Religion, and two Fulbright-Nehru research awards. He is a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion.
Yong Sup Song is an Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics and Theology at Youngnam Theological University and Seminary, South Korea. His recent interests are focused on the ethical issues of Artificial Intelligence. As a Korean Christian ethicist, he emphasizes the priority consideration of the poor and the marginalized, and the inclusion of regional values in the development of AI. He is currently working on discovering and introducing cultural values in Korean society as regional values for moral AI. He has conducted three research projects on theology and artificial intelligence for the National Research Foundation of Korea.
Recorded Presentation | 27 April 2023
#Values #Religion #SouthKorea
