Ethical content in artificial intelligence systems: A demand explained in three critical points.

Artificial intelligence (AI) advancements are changing people's lives in ways never imagined before. We argue that ethics used to be put in perspective by seeing technology as an instrument during the first machine age. However, the second machine age is already a reality, and the changes brought by AI are reshaping how people interact and flourish. That said, ethics must also be analyzed as a requirement in the content. To expose this argument, we bring three critical points - autonomy, right of explanation, and value alignment - to guide the debate of why ethics must be part of the systems, not just in the principles to guide the users. In the end, our discussion leads to a reflection on the redefinition of AI's moral agency. Our distinguishing argument is that ethical questioning must be solved only after giving AI moral agency, even if not at the same human level. For future research, we suggest appreciating new ways of seeing ethics and finding a place for machines, using the inputs of the models we have been using for centuries but adapting to the new reality of the coexistence of artificial intelligence and humans.

First-person representations and responsible agency in AI.

In this paper I investigate which of the main conditions proposed in the moral responsibility literature are the ones that spell trouble for the idea that Artificial Intelligence Systems (AISs) could ever be full-fledged responsible agents. After arguing that the standard construals of the control and epistemic conditions don't impose any in-principle barrier to AISs being responsible agents, I identify the requirement that responsible agents must be aware of their own actions as the main locus of resistance to attribute that kind of agency to AISs. This is because this type of awareness is thought to involve first-person or de se representations, which, in turn, are usually assumed to involve some form of consciousness. I clarify what this widespread assumption involves and conclude that the possibility of AISs' moral responsibility hinges on what the correct theory of de se representations ultimately turns out to be.

Lawful Sinners: Reproductive Governance and Moral Agency Around Abortion in Mexico.

The Catholic Hierarchy unequivocally bans abortion, defining it as a mortal sin. In Mexico City, where the Catholic Church wields considerable political and popular power, abortion was recently decriminalized in a historic vote. Of the roughly 170,000 abortions that have been carried out in Mexico City's new public sector abortion program to date, more than 60% were among self-reported Catholic women. Drawing on eighteen months of fieldwork, including interviews with 34 Catholic patients, this article examines how Catholic women in Mexico City grapple with abortion decisions that contravene Church teachings in the context of recent abortion reform. Catholic women consistently leveraged the local cultural, economic, and legal context to morally justify their abortion decisions against church condemnation. I argue that Catholic women seeking abortion resist religious injunctions on their reproductive behavior by articulating and asserting their own moral agency grounded in the contextual dimensions of their lives. My analysis informs conversations in medical anthropology on moral decision-making around reproduction and on local dynamics of resistance to reproductive governance. Moreover, my findings speak to the deficiencies of a feminist vision focused narrowly on fertility limitation, versus an expanded framework of reproductive justice that considers as well the need for conditions of income equality and structural supports to facilitate reproduction and parenting among women who desire to keep their pregnancies.

Confronting moral distress in Nursing: recognizing nurses as moral agents / Fazendo frente ao sofrimento moral na Enfermagem: reconhecendo as enfermeiras como agentes morais / Enfrentando la angustia moral en Enfermería: reconociendo las enfermeras como agentes morales

The concept of moral distress has brought forth a substantively different way of understanding some of the difficulties confronted by nurses in their practice. This concept highlights that nurses' distress can be an indication of nurses' conscientious moral engagement with their professional practice that has confronted practices or an environment that impedes them from acting according to their own ethical standards. Moral distress can be an indicator of problems in nurses' practice environments. This concept is described and related to moral agency in nursing practice. Selected research on moral distress is reviewed, followed by a discussion of recommendations for addressing this problem.

O conceito de sofrimento (ou angústia) moral trouxe à luz uma maneira substancialmente diferente de compreender algumas das dificuldades enfrentadas pelos enfermeiros em sua prática. Este conceito destaca que o sofrimento dos enfermeiros pode ser um indicador de um engajamento moral consciencioso dos enfermeiros com sua prática profissional, que têm confrontado práticas ou um ambiente que os impede de agir de acordo com seus próprios padrões éticos. Sofrimento moral pode ser um indicador de problemas nos ambientes de prática dos enfermeiros. Este conceito é descrito e relacionado a agência moral na prática da Enfermagem. É revista uma pesquisa selecionada sobre sofrimento moral, seguida de uma discussão de recomendações para enfrentar este problema.

El concepto de angustia moral ha iluminado una forma sustancialmente diferente de entender algunas de las dificultades enfrentadas por los enfermeros en su práctica. Este concepto pone de relieve que el sufrimiento de los enfermeros puede ser una indicación de conciencia de compromiso moral con su práctica profesional, en que han enfrentado prácticas o un entorno que les impide de actuar de acuerdo con sus propias normas éticas. Angustia moral puede ser un indicador de problemas en los entornos de la práctica de los enfermeros. Este concepto es descrito y relaciona con la agencia moral en la práctica de Enfermería. Investigación seleccionada en la angustia moral es revisado, seguido de un debate sobre las recomendaciones para hacer frente a este problema.