From information ethics to digital law

The purpose of the article is to investigate the evolution of ethical principles in the context of the rapid development of information technology. The problem involves an interdisciplinary approach: a combination of philosophy, law, information technology and business ethics. The article shows the evolution of ethical principles in the context of the rapid development of information technology. In the context of the formation of the information society, ethics was close to the traditional universal ideas of good and evil. With the introduction of information technology in business, a new instrumental ethics function has appeared. Ethics has become a prerequisite for business success. This is no longer an intimate part of the spiritual world of a person, but an instrument of business action. At the same time, traditional moral principles were adapted to new business realities. The usual ethical standards were filled with new content. In the context of a modern digital culture, in the center of which are modern versions of artificial intelligence, adaptation processes are included in the most complex social problems, which leads to a convergence of ethics and law. Modern technologies, primarily the development of artificial intelligence, abolishes the traditional view of technology as a continuation of the human will. The autonomy of technology is growing. (For example, autonomous weapons systems can make decisions without human intervention about who is left alive and who is not. In the context of autonomous cars, the algorithms themselves choose what to do in an accident situation). The more autonomous technologies, AI systems become, the less a person controls their behavior. AI autonomy limits our ability to intervene with a critical, for example, situation. The path of development of artificial intelligence goes from the function of the tool to independence, i.e. the function of the subject. There are risks of losing control of technology. If the autonomous system decides to interact with the environment and learn without direct human participation, then the question arises who is responsible for their actions. In this case, is AI a tool or a subject? In the event that the AI system is mistaken, then who is to blame for this: developers, users, or the system itself. For example, in the case of a doctor who relies on AI when making a diagnosis, then if the diagnosis is erroneous, who is responsible – the doctor or the algorithm. The moral dilemmas associated with the use of artificial intelligence require the development of ethical standards that would regulate the behavior of "machines" – algorithms. In certain situations, moral norms are not enough, legal norms (information law) begin to enter into force.