SSC CPO 2025 PYQ — Question 184

A passage is given with five questions following it. Read the passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the given four alternatives.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into decision-making systems raises profound ethical dilemmas. Unlike humans, AI lacks consciousness or moral intent, yet it increasingly influences areas such as hiring, law enforcement, and healthcare. When algorithms are trained on biased data, they may perpetuate systemic inequalities under the guise of neutrality. Moreover, responsibility becomes diffuse—if an AI-driven system causes harm, who is accountable: the programmer, the user, or the company? Transparency, often lacking in proprietary models, further complicates public trust. Ethical AI development must therefore go beyond functionality; it requires fairness audits, explainability, and robust oversight mechanisms. Without these, we risk embedding opaque biases into institutions that shape human lives. The dilemma is not merely technical but philosophical—can machines, devoid of values, make morally sound choices, or are we outsourcing ethical responsibility to lines of code?