Mele’s Digital Zygote: Developer Responsibility for Neural Networks.
Should developers be held responsible for the predictions of their neural networks—and if not, does that introduce a responsibility gap? The claim that neural networks introduce a responsibility gap has seen significant pushback, with philosophers arguing that the gap can be bridged, or did not exis...
| Publicado en: | Science & Engineering Ethics Vol. 31; no. 6; pp. 1 - 19 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Springer Nature
Dec2025
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=190563926&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 190563926 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 13533452 GNI jtl: Science & Engineering Ethics issn: 13533452 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Dec2025 vid: 31 iid: 6 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 190563926 10.1007/s11948-025-00566-9 ppf: 1 ppct: 18 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 958KB tig: atl: Mele’s Digital Zygote: Developer Responsibility for Neural Networks. aug: au: Søgaard, Anders Stamatiou, Filippos affil: https://ror.org/035b05819 Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, København, Denmark https://ror.org/05bk57929 Department of Communication, University of Copenhagen & Department of Philosophy, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa su: Artificial neural networks Artificial intelligence & ethics Forecasting Computer programmers sug: subj: Artificial neural networks Artificial intelligence & ethics Forecasting Computer programmers keyword: Accountability Developer responsibility Ethics of AI Moral responsibility Responsibility gaps ab: Should developers be held responsible for the predictions of their neural networks—and if not, does that introduce a responsibility gap? The claim that neural networks introduce a responsibility gap has seen significant pushback, with philosophers arguing that the gap can be bridged, or did not exist in the first place. We show how the responsibility gap turns on whether we can distinguish between foreseeable and unforeseeable neural network predictions. Empirical facts about neural networks tell us we cannot, which seems to force developers to either assume full responsibility or no responsibility at all, introducing a responsibility gap—unless, of course, the same empirical facts hold true of humans, in which case there is no gap, but the trouble is simply with the classical notion of responsibility. We revisit and revise Mele’s Zygote, as well as the famous Palsgraf case, and argue that in fact, what complicates responsibility assignment for neural networks also complicates responsibility assignment for humans, and humans seem to confront us with the same all-or-nothing dilemma. Thus, we agree there is no technology-induced responsibility gap (there was no gap in the first place), but for slightly different reasons than our predecessors. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Science & Engineering Ethics is a copyright of Springer, 2025. All Rights Reserved. item: Science & Engineering Ethics holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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