Arvolatautena

Arvolatautena is a neologism used in contemporary debates about value-driven automation and ethical artificial intelligence. The term denotes a mode of operation in which a system's decisions are treated as governed by a fixed, explicit set of values and applied uniformly across contexts, with little accommodation for situational nuance.

Origin and usage: The word is discussed primarily in Estonian-language discourse and in cross-language academic writing on AI ethics. It is typically described as a stance or design principle rather than a concrete architecture.

Characteristics: Key features include explicit value commitments, prescriptive decision rules, and a claim that values function as a primary driver of outcomes. Proponents argue that arvolatautena can increase transparency and accountability by making values central to the decision logic. Critics, however, worry that it risks rigidity, value conflicts, and repression of contextual ethical reasoning.

Applications: The concept is used in analyzing governance of automated systems, such as hiring, policing, or resource allocation, where value alignment is foregrounded but where trade-offs and stakeholder input may be underemphasized.

See also: Value alignment, Ethical AI, Normative ethics.