Ethics education in the quantum information science classroom: Exploring attitudes, barriers, and opportunities

Abstract

Quantum information science (QIS) is an emerging interdisciplinary field at the intersection of physics, computer science, electrical engineering, and mathematics leveraging the laws of quantum mechanics to circumvent classical limitations on information processing. With QIS coursework proliferating across US institutions, including at the undergraduate level, we argue that it is imperative that ethics and social responsibility be incorporated into QIS education from the beginning. We discuss ethical issues of particular relevance to QIS education that educators may wish to incorporate into their curricula. We then report on findings from focus interviews with six faculty who have taught introductory QIS courses, focusing on barriers to and opportunities for incorporation of ethics and social responsibility (ESR) into the QIS classroom. Few faculty had explicitly considered discussion of ethical issues in the classroom prior to the interview, yet instructor attitudes shifted markedly in support of incorporating ESR in the classroom as a result of the interview process itself. Taking into account faculty's perception of obstacles to discussing issues of ESR in coursework, we propose next steps toward making ESR education in the QIS classroom a reality.

Democratization of quantum technologies

“…In this paper, we purposefully omitted discussing the issue of ethics in QT, which would have further complicated the topic of different theories of democracy in the context of democratization. We acknowledge that there is a sprouting literature (Kop 2021, Perrier 2021a, 2021b, Meyer et al 2022 and a series of community-based efforts 23 on the topic and would encourage the interested readers to get involved with that fascinating and important topic. Similarly, literature on governance of QT has been emerging (Johnson 2019, Coates et al 2022, even intersecting with discussions on democratization (Kop 2021).…”

Communities of quantum technologies: Stakeholder identification, legitimation and interaction

“…Krishnamurthy (2022) stresses how governments can create the conditions for successful self-regulatory and multi-stakeholder initiatives in order to address the human rights impacts of QT. Finally, Meyer, Finkelstein, and Wilcox (2022) point out that QIS researchers and stakeholders from technical backgrounds, although accepting that ethical issues undeniably emerge in QT, they believe these issues do not diverge significantly from those of other areas of engineering and technology and are perhaps better suited for philosophy departments rather than the public domain.…”