Moral Compass: A Data-Driven Benchmark for Ethical Cognition in AI

Abstract

We propose the Moral Compass benchmark, a point of reference for incorporating ethical cognition in AI. It has four key contributions. A Moral Decision Dataset (MDD) that captures cases with ethical ambiguity, along with parameters that aid moral decision-making. It is created using a methodology that leverages the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) and seed data from real-world sources which are processed, summarized, and augmented. We also introduce a Moral Decision Knowledge Graph (MDKG) that is created using feature mappings of the relational dataset MDD to facilitate efficient querying. To demonstrate the validity and robustness of this dataset, we introduce an Ethics Scoring Algorithm (ESA) that makes use of the parameters defined in the dataset to calculate ethical scores for isolated actions. Furthermore, ESA is extended by the novel concept of context-sensitive thresholding (CST) to discretize grey areas to resolve ethical dilemmas with explainable results. This work aims to facilitate ethical cognition in AI systems that are deployed in various important sections of society through a clear methodology, modular development, and broad applicability.