Ethical Principles in Industry 4.0 Automated Decision-Making Systems

Odile Bellenguez, Olivier Cardin, Toinon Vigier, Colin de la Higuera

Abstract: Decision making is one of the main elements currently questioned in Industry 4.0. It is meant to be efficient, fast, agile, but the questions of ethical principles are rarely included in the studies of literature. This communication first investigates the classical computer-based decision-making process in Industry 4.0 and exhibits the main flaws of such a process from an ethical point of view. An analysis of the main philosophical intellectual currents on the topic shows that three schools among them would actually be competing and coexisting in an ethical decision-making process. The integration of these currents in the decision-making process is finally illustrated by two industrial examples.