Responsible AI - the role of ethics

Just as corporate environmental responsibility has shifted from awareness to execution, so the moral responsibility inherent in the use of advanced artificial intelligence technologies must shift from deliberation to producing basic guides. My PhD thesis, at UDM, consists in examining the international milestones of an ethics of artificial intelligence in order to be able to issue basic certification in #ResponsibleAI, accessible and scalable, to facilitate business growth towards a just world.

Several organizations are actively working on the development of Responsible AI Standards. The European Commission kicked off the action last February by publishing the White Paper on artificial intelligence: A European approach based on excellence and trust. These two central notions of trust and excellence are defined as the engines of this new industry. Trust, at the center of ethical deliberations, places the human factor as the main axis.

It is clear from the European AI strategy and the coordinated plan that Trust is an essential condition for an approach to AI focused on the Human Factor.

AI is not an end in itself but a tool that must be at the service of citizens to ultimately increase human well-being. To achieve this goal, AI needs to be trusted. The values on which our societies are based must be fully integrated into the development of AI. The white paper proposes policy guidelines for the framework of AI for the years to come.

Observatories are emerging bringing debates in the ethics of artificial intelligence, such as OBVIA (International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of AI and Digital Technology), the AlgoraLab (Interdisciplinary University Laboratory that develops deliberative ethics of AI and digital innovation and analyzes the societal and political aspects of the emerging algorithmic society), Turing Institute, the Sapiens Institute which aims to define the role of humans in a digital society, and still others are emerging little by little. The mission of these new forms of ecosystems is to foster the adoption of Responsible AI.

The EIU, research division of The Economist journal, published in October 2020, a complete dossier on Responsible AI: Keeping ahead of the curve: The business case for responsable AI. The case highlights the financial benefit for companies to adopt an ethics in artificial intelligence now. This ethic responds to the need for consumer confidence in general and prepares companies for their long-term responsible approach to AI. This awareness will also help to deepen relations between the business community and academia by initiating a common process of reflection on the societal impacts of AI. The urgency of defining milestones in Responsible AI is part of a nascent collective movement like #AI4Good or #Tech4Good where companies are clearly positioning themselves in defense of #HumanRights.

My mission is to establish a basic certification aligned with current international guidelines, adaptable & modular to all recent changes.

My vision is part of a major project to Take Action for the Sustainable Development Goals issued by the United Nations. My research project will result in the development of basic ethical standards aimed at guiding artificial intelligence projects towards the Common Good. My project will be concretely implemented within the company I manage, NAPSE Intelligence, and it is accompanied by educational support allowing entrepreneurs to become aware of their involvement in #ResponsibleAI. 

My research is fueled by important and serious publications on the ethics of artificial intelligence and the great authors in contemporary ethics will allow me to move forward with my project in a scientific framework.