by Tatiana Bunyamin e!23
Introduction
The exponential rise of technological startups and artificial intelligence has been very prevalent in numerous different places around the world, including Indonesia. Before the 1990s, when the world was still relying on conventional ways of living, there were still very few innovations in the technology sector. However, after the 21st century, a swift move in technological advancements occurred. What used to be a trip to the grocery store is now just a single click of a button, and what used to be a pile of books is now merely a text on a screen. Along with those advancements, innovations, R&D expenditures, patents, licences, and inventions started to play a very crucial role in the economy. (Doruk & Sylemezolu, 2014). In a more specific context of Indonesia, Startups such as Gojek, Tokopedia, Ruangguru, and HaloDoc have made their way towards Indonesia's ever-growing economy.
One of Indonesia's most successful startups is Go-Jek. Go-Jek is the first startup in Indonesia to achieve Decacorn status and alone has contributed to 1.6% of Indonesia's GDP (Sustrino, 2021). This also applies globally. As a point of comparison, in the US, the tech sector has contributed to approximately 9.3 percent of its GDP. This shows that the role of startups and AI-based technology in a country's economy is highly significant.
As of recently, numerous startups have implemented the use of artificial intelligence in their systems in order to create more advancements. Artificial intelligence is used with the objective of creating machines that are programmed to think, perform, and learn tasks as a human would. According to the CTO of Tokopedia, Herman Widjaja, artificial intelligence plays its role in making user experience more fulfilling through personalisation, accurate recommendations, and prediction.
Another example of the implementation is through its virtual assistance 'TANYA', which is an AI-generated virtual assistance. All of these advancements are possible with the use of algorithms and machine learning that utilizes user data and information, such as demographics, preferences, and interests. However, with all of its advantages, there are a few downsides that raises the infamous overlooked question: What does the rise of AI-driven startups mean to ethics? Can these innovations truly make our lives easier or will they only pose as a potential threat? The rise of artificial intelligence and startups is the exact reason why their negative implications should be discussed more.
Ethical concerns in AI-driven Startups
The issue of ethical concerns has surrounded the topic of artificial intelligence for a long time. In software development and systems designs, ethics has a history of over 30 years. However, our understanding of AI ethics is still limited. (Vakkuri et al.,2020). The way AI works in startups is through mass data collection of its users to create personalized content. While AI can simulate human behaviours, it is evident that AI only takes on machine learning and has no moral agencies, which means that it only learns from the information and data that we choose to give. This is a significant challenge that creates issues such as biases, security concerns, and incorrect decisions.
Let's take the example of privacy concerns. Tech startups often collect a huge amount of data, including personal data in order to create personalized content that appeals to its users, such as personalized advertisements and recommendations. However, the problem arises when users are kept in the dark regarding data transparency. This creates two major questions: 'Which ones of my data are used and what is it used for?' As a result, consumer trust would decrease. This also creates a threat for cyberattacks that seek to exploit unauthorised access to user data. During March of 2023, there was a security concern regarding the social media application TikTok. This issue was brought up in a hearing by the United States Government.
Now, let's take the example of incorrect decision-making. When discussing AI- driven startups it is evident that decision-making is something that should be heavily considered. This issue is especially relevant for telemedicine startups such as HaloDoc. There are often debates on whether telemedicine startups should implement artificial intelligence or not.
This is due to the reason that AI is largely based on machine learning and that it cannot make decisions based on morality. On one side, AI can greatly help with giving individuals in remote areas access to healthcare through the touch of a screen, and it can also use data-driven insights from the patients' past histories. However, on the other side, there are concerns. For example, AI cannot take into account how the patient feels, the accurate diagnosis for a specific illness, and the importance of cultural practices. While a lot of data can be used to make it accurate, there is no guarantee that the decision it makes will be beneficial to the patient at all.