Recommender Systems and their Ethical Challenges

Abstract

This article presents the first, systematic analysis of the ethical challenges posed by recommender systems. Through a literature review, the article identifies six areas of concern, and maps them onto a proposed taxonomy of different kinds of ethical impact. The analysis uncovers a gap in the literature: currently user-centred approaches do not consider the interests of a variety of other stakeholders — as opposed to just the receivers of a recommendation — in assessing the ethical impacts of a recommender system.

Keywords: Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Ethics, Ethical Trade-offs, Ethics of Recommendation, Machine Learning, Recommender Systems