Anthropocentrism and Environmental Wellbeing in AI Ethics Standards: Key Vocabulary

A vocabulary flashcard deck covering core concepts, philosophical distinctions, and methodology from the scoping review on anthropocentrism, environmental wellbeing, and human-centredness in AI ethics standards.

Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence (HCAI)

A paradigm in AI development that seeks to place human needs, abilities, and safety at the center rather than technology, often combining human-centered design principles with AI-specific considerations like bias, data usage, and outcome uncertainty.

Anthropocentrism

The view in moral philosophy asserting that only human beings possess intrinsic moral value, or at minimum, that humans possess greater intrinsic moral value than nonhumans.

Strong Anthropocentrism

The philosophical position that human beings are the sole bearers of intrinsic moral value, leaving nonhumans with merely extrinsic or instrumental value for human survival, gain, or pleasure.

Moderate Anthropocentrism

The philosophical position that nonhumans possess intrinsic moral value in their own right, but possess less moral value than humans, meaning human interests prevail in cases of moral conflict.

Intrinsic Value

The philosophical value that an entity or object has for its own sake, independent of its utility or relation to other beings.

Extrinsic Value

The value that an entity or object possesses as a means to an end, for the sake of something else, or in relation to another being.

Asimov's Fourth Law of Robotics

A foundational benchmark rule introduced by Isaac Asimov stating that a robot may not harm humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

Sentiocentrism

A non-anthropocentric environmental ethics framework asserting that all sentient beings capable of experiencing suffering are entitled to equal moral consideration alongside humans.

Biocentrism

A life-centered environmental ethics framework holding that all living organisms possess intrinsic moral value due to having morally significant interests in their survival, flourishing, and wellbeing.

Ecocentrism

A relational environmental ethics theory that attributes intrinsic value to entire ecological communities and ecosystems as interdependent wholes, regarding humans as equal members of this community.

Deep Ecology

A branch of ecocentrism asserting that the concept of 'self' extends to identify with the wider natural environment, granting intrinsic value to all interconnected components including animals, plants, and ecosystems.

Scoping Review

A five-step research synthesis methodology formulated by Arksey and O'Malley designed to broadly map key concepts, types of evidence, and gaps within a vast and heterogeneous body of literature without mandatory formal quality appraisal.

AI Ethics Standards

Non-technical compliance and governance tools—such as policy frameworks, certification schemas, codes of conduct, and guidelines—developed to operationalize ethical principles in AI research, design, and deployment.

Human-Centric Review Criterion

The specific binary criterion in the scoping review defined by the explicit presence of the phrase 'human-centredness', 'human-centric', or equivalent phrasing within an AI ethics framework.

Trustworthy AI (TAI)

An AI framework defined by the European Commission High-Level Expert Group anchored on four foundational ethical principles: respect for human autonomy, prevention of harm, fairness, and explicability.