Agency Laundering and Information Technologies

Ethical Theory & Moral Practice, Forthcoming

21 Pages Posted: 23 Oct 2019

See all articles by Alan Rubel

Alan Rubel

University of Wisconsin, Madison - Information School; University of Wisconsin, Madison - Program in Legal Studies

Clinton Castro

Florida International University (FIU)

Adam Pham

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: September 10, 2019

Abstract

When agents insert technological systems into their decision-making processes, they can obscure moral responsibility for the results. This can give rise to a distinct moral wrong, which we call “agency laundering.” At root, agency laundering involves obfuscating one’s moral responsibility by enlisting a technology or process to take some action and letting it forestall others from demanding an account for bad outcomes that result. We argue that the concept of agency laundering helps in understanding important moral problems in a number of recent cases involving automated, or algorithmic, decision-systems. We apply our conception of agency laundering to a series of examples, including Facebook’s automated advertising suggestions, Uber’s driver interfaces, algorithmic evaluation of K-12 teachers, and risk assessment in criminal sentencing. We distinguish agency laundering from several other critiques of information technology, including the so-called “responsibility gap,” “bias laundering,” and masking.

Keywords: ethics, algorithm, AI, agency, autonomy, big data, privacy, automation, agency laundering, COMPAS, transparency, information technology, responsibility gap

Suggested Citation

Rubel, Alan P. and Castro, Clinton and Pham, Adam, Agency Laundering and Information Technologies (September 10, 2019). Ethical Theory & Moral Practice, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3452052 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3452052

Alan P. Rubel (Contact Author)

University of Wisconsin, Madison - Information School ( email )

4217 HC WHite
600 N. Park St.
Madison, WI 53706-1481
United States

University of Wisconsin, Madison - Program in Legal Studies ( email )

4217 HC WHite
600 N. Park St.
Madison, WI 53706-1481
United States

Clinton Castro

Florida International University (FIU) ( email )

University Park
11200 SW 8th Street
Miami, FL 33199
United States

Adam Pham

affiliation not provided to SSRN

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