The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Ethical Decision - TOEFL Writing Integrated Practice Test

The art of academic writing requires both precision and analytical clarity. Today's TOEFL practice session will strengthen your ability to handle the Integrated Writing task effectively. We'll explore techniques for processing information, organizing your response, and presenting ideas clearly within the time constraints. Ready to master this challenging component?

Writing Instructions

• You'll read a passage and listen to a lecture on an academic topic.
• You may take notes while listening to aid comprehension.
• Then you will write a response to a question that asks you about the lecture you heard.
• Answer the question comprehensively using information from the lecture. Avoid expressing personal opinions in the response.
• There is no strict word limit. However, an effective response is considered to be within 150 to 225 words.
• Your response will be assessed based on writing quality, content accuracy, and completeness.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has changed many fields, but its role in making moral choices is a hot topic. Supporters say AI can improve moral choices by removing human biases and keeping things the same. AI systems, which follow strict ethical rules, can process large amounts of data objectively. This leads to fairer results. For example, in the legal system, AI can look at past cases and give fair advice. This might reduce wrongful convictions.

Also, AI's skill in handling complex data helps make better decisions in healthcare. AI algorithms can spot patterns and guess results correctly, helping doctors make moral choices about patient care. This can lead to more personalized treatment plans and better use of resources, ultimately improving patient outcomes.

Also, AI can help in business management by checking if companies follow ethical standards. Businesses can use AI to find cheating activities and ensure ethical practices, building a culture of honesty. This not only improves the company's reputation but also builds trust with the people involved.

However, using AI to make moral choices has its challenges. Critics say AI systems are only as good as the data they learn from. If the data has biases, the AI will continue these biases, leading to unethical results. Also, the lack of clarity in how AI makes decisions raises questions about responsibility. When an AI system makes an unethical choice, it's often unclear who should be blamed.

Now play the audio.

Question

Summarise the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they oppose specific points made in the reading passage.

Learn what a good TOEFL score is before you check out the sample answers to the Writing Integrated task!

Sample Responses for the Integrated Writing Task on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Ethical Decision

Examine the two sample responses given—one at a mid-level and the other at a high-level. By comparing these examples, you’ll gain useful insights that can help you improve and refine your writing response.

High-Level Response

The lecture presents several significant challenges to the idea that AI can improve moral decision-making, countering the reading's optimistic view.

The reading claims that AI can eliminate human biases by processing data objectively. However, the lecture argues that AI systems often inherit biases from the data they are trained on. For instance, if judicial data is biased, the AI will perpetuate these biases, leading to unfair outcomes rather than fairer ones.

In healthcare, the reading suggests that AI can assist doctors in making moral choices by identifying patterns and predicting outcomes. The lecture, however, points out that AI lacks the deep understanding and empathy that human doctors possess. Moral decisions in healthcare often require a nuanced understanding of individual patient situations, which AI cannot provide. This could result in technically correct but morally questionable decisions.

The reading also highlights AI's role in ensuring ethical business practices by monitoring compliance. The lecture counters this by noting that the opacity of AI decision-making processes makes it difficult to hold anyone accountable for unethical decisions. Additionally, over-reliance on AI could reduce human oversight, increasing the risk of unethical practices going unnoticed.

In summary, while the reading emphasizes the potential benefits of AI in making moral choices, the lecture highlights critical issues that need to be addressed to ensure AI truly enhances ethical outcomes.

Rater's Comment

This response merits a high score due to its clear and concise summary of both the reading and the lecture. The writer effectively captures the main points from the reading, such as AI's potential to eliminate human biases, assist in healthcare, and ensure ethical business practices. The response then systematically addresses how the lecture challenges each of these points, providing specific examples like the perpetuation of biases in judicial data and the lack of deep understanding in healthcare decisions.

The essay is well-organized, with each paragraph focusing on a specific point of contention between the reading and the lecture. The use of transitions like "however" and "in summary" helps to maintain a logical flow, making the essay easy to follow. The language is clear and straightforward, avoiding overly complex words and sentences, which aligns well with the writing style of a college graduate.

Moreover, the response demonstrates strong control over grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary, with only minor errors that do not affect the overall meaning. This level of clarity and coherence, combined with the accurate representation of both the reading and the lecture, justifies the high score.

Mid-Level Response

The lecture talks about some problems with using AI for moral decisions, which are not mentioned in the reading passage.

The passage says AI can remove human bises and make fair decisions. But the lecture says AI can still have biases because it learns from old data that might be biased.

In healthcare, the passage say AI can help doctors make better decisions by finding patterns in data. The lecture disagries, saying AI doesn't have the deep understanding that human doctors have. AI might make decisions that are technically correct but morally wrong because it doesn't understand individual patient situations.

The passage also says AI can help businesses follow ethical rules. The lecture points out that AI decision-making is not clear, so its hard to know who is responsible for unethical decisions. Also, relying too much on AI might reduce human oversight, making it easier for unethical practices to go unnoticed.

In conclusion, while the reading is positive about AI's role in moral decisions, the lecture highlights important challenges that need to be addressed.

Rater's Comment

This response earns a mid-level score due to its partial but not comprehensive summary of the reading and the lecture. The writer captures some key points from both sources, such as AI's potential to remove human biases and assist in healthcare and business ethics. However, the response lacks depth in explaining how the lecture challenges these points.

The essay is somewhat organized, with each paragraph addressing a specific point, but the transitions between ideas are not as smooth as they could be. The use of phrases like "for example" and "in conclusion" helps to some extent, but the overall flow could be improved.

There are noticeable grammatical and punctuation errors. These errors do not severely hinder understanding but do affect the overall clarity and coherence of the essay.

Overall, the response provides a limited summary of the reading and the lecture, with some lapses in organization and coherence, justifying the mid-level score.

Strategies for Taking the Integrated Writing Task on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Ethical Decision

Here are strategies for writing the question on the impact of Artificial Intelligence on Ethical decision making.

• Maintain objectivity; avoid inserting personal opinions on trade policies.
• Manage your time to allow for planning, writing, and reviewing.
• Ensure you've accurately represented the perspectives from both sources.
• Check for a logical flow of ideas and clear transitions between points.
• Proofread for grammar, spelling, and clarity.

Now that you’ve reviewed strategies and sample responses, it’s time to practice and refine your skills further!

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