FrenchB2Lesson 6.2
🇫🇷 French B2 · Lesson 6.2

L'éthique de l'IA — The ethics of AI

Speculate about the ethics of artificial intelligence using hypotheticals and the past conditional.

Listen first

Two ethicists debate an AI hiring tool that discriminated. Listen for the past conditional.

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New vocabulary — tap to hear
l'intelligence artificielle (f.)artificial intelligence 🔊
un biais algorithmiquean algorithmic bias 🔊
la responsabilitéresponsibility / accountability 🔊
encadrerto regulate / set limits on 🔊
si l'on avait su…if we had known… 🔊
à double tranchantdouble-edged 🔊

Now say it

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« Si nous avions encadré l'IA plus tôt, nous aurions évité bien des dérives. » 🔊
If we had regulated AI sooner, we would have avoided many abuses.
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Pronunciation

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Si l'entreprise avait audité son algorithme, elle aurait évité ce scandale. 🔊If the company had audited its algorithm, it would have avoided this scandal.
Exactement. Si l'on avait su que le modèle reproduisait des biais, on l'aurait suspendu. 🔊Exactly. If we had known the model reproduced biases, we would have suspended it.
L'intelligence artificielle est à double tranchant : puissante mais opaque. 🔊Artificial intelligence is double-edged: powerful but opaque.
D'où la nécessité d'encadrer son usage et de clarifier les responsabilités. 🔊Hence the need to regulate its use and clarify accountability.
Sans transparence, qui assumera les conséquences d'une erreur ? 🔊Without transparency, who will take responsibility for a mistake?
C'est toute la question que le législateur peine encore à trancher. 🔊That's the very question lawmakers are still struggling to settle.
Grammar in focus · le conditionnel passé & « si + plus-que-parfait »

To speculate about an unrealised past, use « si » + plus-que-parfait in the condition and the conditionnel passé in the result: « si l'on avait su, on aurait agi » (if we had known, we would have acted). The order can be reversed without changing the tenses.

Write it yourself

Write 5 sentences about an AI failure that could have been prevented, using « si » + plus-que-parfait + conditionnel passé at least twice.

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Tip for this task
Bien ! Condition = plus-que-parfait, result = conditionnel passé. Example: « Si les données avaient été vérifiées, le biais n'aurait pas existé. »

Quick check

An adaptive quiz confirms you've got it and schedules the right words for review.

1. In « si + plus-que-parfait », the result clause uses…
2. « Si l'on avait su » expresses…
3. « À double tranchant » means…
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