What is AI ethics, and what is it good for? Clarifying debates on AI ethics

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The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into various aspects of society has raised pressing ethical concerns, from privacy and fairness to autonomy and safety. In response, the field of AI ethics has grown significantly, with a particular focus on developing guidelines to support the responsible development and use of AI. However, this trend has faced criticism, with concerns about “ethics washing” and skepticism regarding the overall value of AI ethics. In this paper, we argue that such criticisms often rely on an incomplete understanding of AI ethics. To address this, we propose an understanding of AI ethics that distinguishes between diverse instances of AI ethics (viz., research, education, practice, and governance instruments) and the purposes they serve (viz., knowledge, communication, and application). By disentangling these elements, we can illuminate different ways of doing AI ethics and provide a structured way to assess their value. Our arguments highlight that critiques of specific instances and purposes of AI ethics do not justify dismissing AI ethics altogether. We conclude by demonstrating how our proposed distinctions can reconcile existing defenses of AI ethics and guide future discourse, ensuring that the field remains both robust and relevant in addressing the ethical challenges posed by AI.