Challenges and Responses to Social Work Ethics in the Digital Age
This article employs a systematic review approach to analyze the multifaceted ethical challenges that social work faces in the digital age,particularly in light of rapid advances in artificial intelligence,and suggests strategies to address these chal-lenges effectively.The article examines the ethical impact of digitalization on social work across six dimensions:context,relationships,power,information,responsibil-ity,and technology.In terms of context,digitalization has made"absent-presence"the norm,where traditional face-to-face interactions are often replaced by virtual ones,which leads to interpersonal detachment and weakened emotional connections,which in turn impair the formation of trust-based professional relationships,thus affecting the quality of services.Regarding relationships,the virtual nature of digital platform interactions can blur the boundaries of professional relationships,and the ease of access chal-lenges the maintenance of professional distance,which often leads to burnout and ethical dilemmas.On the power dimension,digital capital disparities exacerbate so-cial inequalities,as marginalized groups often lack the resources,technology,or edu-cational background to access quality social work services.This digital divide and in-formation asymmetry limit their opportunities for self-development,undermining the fairness and inclusivity of social work.From an informational perspective,digital technology's reliance on extensive data collection and analysis brings substantial risks of privacy breaches and data mis-use.Issues with the transparency and control of data sharing further elevate the ethi-cal pressure on privacy protection.Responsibility challenges arise with the"black box"nature of algorithms,particularly the opacity of artificial intelligence systems,which makes it difficult to identify the responsible parties when issues occur.When algorithmic biases or flawed decisions harm service recipients,the ambiguity sur-rounding accountability creates ethical dilemmas in professional social work.Lastly,in the technological dimension,digitalized social work risks replacing human-centered care with instrumental rationality,overlooking clients'agency and personal-ized needs,which can lead to an over-reliance on technology and a mechanized ap-proach to service delivery,sidelining individual experiences and emotional care.To address these ethical challenges,social work should participate in interdisci-plinary global dialogue,advance research on digital ethics,exercise caution in the ap-plication of digital technology,and promote the development of ethical guidelines in digital social work,providing a framework for future practice.Social work education should also focus on digital ethics and technical training to ensure that practitioners possess both technological literacy and ethical sensitivity,safeguarding against the misuse of technology in ways that may harm service recipients.In conclusion,while the rapid development of digital and artificial intelligence technologies offers unprecedented opportunities for social work innovation,it also presents unique ethical challenges.As social work embraces these new technologies,it must consistently prioritize ethics to ensure that technological applications remain aligned with professional ethics and protect the rights and interests of service recipi-ents.This is not only a necessary step for digital transformation but also a crucial as-pect of upholding the core values of the social work profession.