Erratum and addendum ‐ GOOGLE'S duplex: Pretending to be human

• Author: Daniel E. O'Leary
• Date: 01 April 2019
• Published date: 01 April 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/isaf.1454

ERRATUM

Erratum and addendum ‐GOOGLE'S duplex: Pretending to be

human

Daniel E. O'Leary

University of Southern California, USA

In “GOOGLE'S Duplex: Pretending to be human”in “Intelligent

Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management,”(DOI: 10.1002/

isaf.1443) the published version of section 7 omits some quotation

marks, and misattributes some material to the wrong missing source.

That portion of section 7 should read:

There have been two primary efforts to craft an understanding of

the ethics associated with robots and artificial intelligent‐like systems:

BS 8611 (BSI, 2016) and IEEE's “Ethically Aligned Design”(IEEE, 2016;

IEEE, 2017). Our primary attention will be focused on the IEEE's

efforts.

For IEEE, concern with artificial intelligence and impersonating

people first appears in 2017 (IEEE 2017, p. 258). As noted in that

document: A/IS (autonomous and intelligent systems)

“… may also deceive and harm humans by posing as

humans. With the increased ability of artificial systems

to meet the Turing test …there is a significant risk that

unscrupulous operators will abuse the technology for

unethical commercial, or outright criminal, purposes.

The widespread manipulation of humans by A/IS and

loss of human free agency, autonomy, and other

aspects of human flourishing, is by definition a

reduction in human well‐being. Without taking action to

prevent it, it is highly conceivable that A/IS will be used

to deceive humans by pretending to be another human

being in a plethora of situations or via multiple mediums.

Without laws preventing A/IS from simulating humans

for purposes like deception and coercion, and enforcing

A/IS to clearly identify as such, mistaken identity could

also reasonably be expected. …

While individuals may enjoy the ability of A/IS to

simulate humans in situations where they are pure

entertainment, explicit permission and consent by users

in the use of these systems is recommended, and the

wellbeing impacts on users should be monitored,

researched, and considered by the A/IS community in

an effort to provide services and goods that improve

well‐being. As part of this, it is important to include

multiple stakeholders, including minorities, the

marginalized, and those often without power or a voice.”

IEEE (2017) appears to be one of the first documents to suggest that

computer system development, aimed at simulating, imitating or

impersonating people, using AI was not ethical or appropriate, and

that obtaining explicit permission and consent was recommended.

IEEE (2016, 2017) may pre‐date Google's Duplex development and

apparent approach to test the system on people unaware that the

entity on the other end of the phone was a computer program.

Although it also is likely that there were parallel efforts going on at

the same time, at IEEE regarding ethics and at Google regarding

Duplex.

ORCID

Daniel E. O'Leary https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5240-9516

DOI: 10.1002/isaf.1454

106 © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Intell Sys Acc Fin Mgmt. 2019;26:106.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/isaf