Talk at the EthicsLab@UCT’s Neuroscience Institute

Emanating from an early announcement about the Autonomous Decisions book, a brief encounter, access as soon as the book became available, and eager reading, Dr Heidi Matisonn invited me to give a talk at their Ethics Lab at UCT’s Neuroscience Institute, located on the Groote Schuur Hospital grounds in Cape Town, on 27 February 2025. In meeting organiser Mr Tebeli’s words, summarising my abstract:

“In this talk, Prof. Keet will explore how storytelling can make complex topics in computer ethics, such as AI ethics, safety, and responsibility more accessible and engaging. Drawing from her book, Autonomous Decisions: Computing Quandaries in Short Fiction, she will highlight key ethical challenges in computing, with a special focus on medical and health informatics issues. Expect a thought-provoking discussion on topics like buggy medical devices, obsolete implants, and ethical dilemmas in care robots.”

It was a lively talk interspersed with questions, exploratory conversations, and thoughtful views that explored a range of topics that passed the revue. It being a mixed audience with students and staff from health sciences, molecular biology, and philosophy, among others, some aspects had more resonance and familiarity than others. Among others, on the fine, but important, distinction between trust versus responsible and reliable computing (including AI), whether autonomous computing systems are really autonomous, the words we use to frame an object, and the policy vacuum being not unfamiliar in the physical and mental health settings either.

If you wonder whether any of it may be of interest to you: you can read the first story of the book for free, on Lubanzi trying to get his somewhat culturally aware carebot in Claremont to serve him more wine, for which there’s also some free self-study background information available online.

(image credits: PaO_STUDIO/Shutterstock through a The Conversation article on care robots)