Fourth Industrial Revolution and the future of Engineering: Could Robots Replace Human Jobs? How Ethical Recommendations can Help Engineers Rule on Artificial Intelligence

The current economic crisis, combined with the sudden increased use of Information Technology (IT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in human life presents new challenges and opportunities for engineering education and jobs. Engineering education needs to undergo a revolution; ethical issues that involve AI and the use of technologies need to be inserted in the learning process urgently to guarantee the employment of our future engineers. In this work we identified and evaluated issues and candidate recommendations from initiatives like “The IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems” and “USA NSTC's Subcommittee on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence” in order to provide a set of ethical principles and recommendations that are conversant with Engineering ethics defined by “Engineering Criteria 2000”. Some of these ethical principles and recommendations are highlighted with the objective of introducing AI in engineering education and improve the connections between technology and society.