88% of Latin American leaders recognize the importance of ethical AI

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A new global study by the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) revealed a radical change in the roles responsible for main and defending the ethics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in an organization: 80% of those surveyed pointed to a non-technical executive -the CEO- as the main “promoter” of AI ethics, a strong increase from 15% in 2018.

The global study also indicates that despite a strong vital for the advancement of trusted AI, coupled with outperforming peers in sustainability, social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, there is still a hole between the intent of leaders and meaningful actions. In the case of Latin America, executives are more optimistic, with 66% of respondents saying their organization’s practices and actions match (or exceed) their stated principles and values, placing them behind North America (81%). and Japan (71%) for the same question. Provided the global average index is considered, less than 20% agreed with this.

The study also found that:

Business executives are now seen as the driving force bottom AI ethics

  • 21% of respondents from Latin America felt that CEOs were most responsible for AI ethics.
  • Across the region, 64% of respondents designated the CEO and other C-Level executives as a strong influencer on their organization’s ethics strategy.
  • 67% of respondents said that an organization’s board of directors has fantastic influence, as well as the community of shareholders (60%), employees (59%) and customers (56%) in Latin America.

Building reliable AI is perceived as a strategic differentiator and organizations are beginning to implement AI ethics mechanisms.

  • 88% of the region’s leaders surveyed agree that AI ethics are important to their organizations. At the same time, 89% of respondents in Latin America believe that ethics is a source of competitive differentiation.
  • Many companies have begun to take leaps and bounds. In fact, more than half of global respondents say their organizations have taken steps to incorporate AI ethics into their current approach to business ethics.
  • More than 56% of respondents in the region say their organizations have created AI-specific ethical mechanisms, such as an AI project risk assessment framework and an audit/review process.

Ensuring that ethical principles are embedded in AI solutions is an urgent need for organizations around the world

  • Globally, more CEOs surveyed (79%) are prepared to incorporate AI ethics into their practices, up from 21% in 2018.
  • More than half of the organizations in the world have publicly endorsed the common principles of AI ethics. However, less than a quarter have put them into operation.
  • 68% of organizations surveyed acknowledge that having a diverse and inclusive workplace is important to mitigating bias in AI, but the findings indicate that AI teams remain substantially less diverse than their organizations’ workforce: 5 .5 times less inclusive for women, 4 times less inclusive for people from the LGBT+ community, among others.

“As numerous companies nowadays use AI algorithms in their business, they face increasing internal and external demands to design these algorithms to be reasonable, secure, and trustworthy; notwithstanding, there has been little progress in the industry in incorporating AI ethics into its practices,” said Jesús Mantas, Global Managing Partner, IBM Consulting. “The findings from our IBV study demonstrate that building trustworthy AI is a business imperative and societal expectation, not just a compliance issue. As such, companies can implement a governance model and embed ethical principles throughout the AI lifecycle.”

The time for companies to act is now. The study data suggests that those organizations that implement a broad AI ethics strategy woven into all business units may have a competitive advantage in the future. The study provides recommended actions for business leaders, including:

  • Take a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach: Ethical AI requires a holistic approach and a comprehensive set of skills from all parties involved in the process. C-suite executives, designers, behavioral scientists, data scientists, and AI engineers each have a different role to play on the journey to reliable AI.
  • Establish AI governance to operationalize AI ethics: Take a holistic approach to incentivizing, managing, and governing AI solutions throughout their lifecycle, from establishing the right culture to fostering AI responsibly, to practices and policies for products.
  • Reaching beyond the company itself to partner: Expand your approach by identifying and engaging key AI-focused technology partners, academics, startups, and other ecosystem partners to set up “ethical interoperability.”

Illustration: IBM

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