A Preliminary Investigation of the Ethics Policy Concerns of Artificial Intelligence: Insights from AI Professionals Working in Policy-Related Roles

As emerging computing technologies enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming pervasive, there have been calls for regulatory and policy interventions of the government. However, there have been limited government regulations and policies for guiding the ethical development and deployment of AI in occupational activities, with very few exceptions. This work-in-progress paper introduces an ongoing research study that is part of a larger research project that aims to enhance understanding of the AI ethics policy issues discussed among professionals working in AI-related fields and their career pathways for policy contributions. We introduce the results of our preliminary investigation for answering the following research question: What are the ethics issues discussed among professionals working in AI-related fields (e.g., machine learning, cybersecurity, robotics, and data analytics)? We share the preliminary analysis results of the five interviews we have conducted as part of the larger research project. Based on the preliminary analysis results, we discuss how the outcomes of this project will potentially contribute to engineering and computing education.