Ethics in HPC

Authors: Jay Lofstead (Sandia National Laboratories), Jakob Luettgau (University of Tennessee, Knoxville; German Climate Computing Centre (DKRZ), Helmholtz AI), Margaret Lawson (University of Illinois, Sandia National Laboratories)

Abstract: This follow-up to the broadly attended SC19 BoF will expand the conversation related to ethical considerations in the field of HPC. We will continue and expand the discussion including various aspects of ethics, focusing on the role of HPC. This will include ethical behavior, societal norms to foster a pathway to ethically aligned design of HPC solutions and autonomous/intelligent systems that do not intentionally perpetuate global inequality. By furthering this dialogue, we can work to ensure the HPC community is advancing its commitment to technology for the benefit of all of humanity.

Long Description: Ethical concerns in science can be traced back for centuries. With accelerating innovation and an increasing impact of HPC on daily life, however, it is more important than ever to have these discussions. The goal of this BoF is to foster this community-wide discussion on ethics in HPC on issues such as what responsibilities we have as practitioners in the field and how best to ensure that ethical concerns are considered in the development and implementation of HPC applications. We do not propose that we can reach answers on any discussed topic, but rather are seeking to foster discussion to encourage the conversations to continue in SC and other venues. The BoF deliberately does not restrict or proscribe particular areas of discussion. However, the following provides suggestions for possible topics.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, HPC found itself in the spotlight of at least one prominent controversy: The potentially exclusive access to HPC supported insights for treatments or vaccines. The other is related to the implementation of disease surveillance as well as tools to inform shelter in place orders, often conflicting with existing legislation protecting data privacy or freedom of speech. The spectrum of compromises found by different organizations and nations highlights how sensitive to cultural context ethical judgments are. .

HPC as a widely applied computational tool is ethically neutral, although some applications rest in gray areas, such as oil and gas exploration, maintaining nuclear weapons, mining personal information for targeted ads or mass surveillance. In addition, HPC could be leveraged for clearly unethical ends such as designing an optimally destructive pathogen or engineering an effective disinformation campaign. As a technology that can be abused, we must consider what, if anything, the community should do to ward against this.

HPC may intensify economic disparity as illustrated by the example that barely 1% of Top500 supercomputing systems reside in South America and Africa, despite being home to approximately 20% of the world’s population. Just as nations use HPC to increase national productivity and protect their citizen’s welfare, businesses use HPC to manifest a competitive advantage.

We should also consider whether HPC is perpetuating inequality. Women and people of color remain greatly underrepresented also within HPC communities, perhaps this lack of diversity is an inhibitor to the field.

With many workloads incorporating machine learning directly affecting people’s lives, participants may wish to address some of the ethical issues raised by HPC enabled ML/AI. This includes the impact a new generation of automation capabilities might impose on labor forces and society, the risks of amplifying bias, or the application in killer robots, as well as more speculative topics such as the implications of superintelligence.

This BoF hopes to discuss issues such as these, and to consider what values we as a community should be promoting and how best to do so.

URL: https://www.ethicsinhpc.org


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