AI4People—An Ethical Framework for a Good AI Society: Opportunities, Risks, Principles, and Recommendations

Ensuring socially preferable outcomes of AI relies on resolving the tension between incorporating the benefits and mitigating the potential harms of AI, in short, simultaneously avoiding the misuse and underuse of these technologies. In this context, the value of an ethical approach to AI technologies comes into starker relief. Compliance with the law is merely necessary (it is the least that is required), but significantly insufficient (it is not the most than can and should be done) (Floridi 2018). With an analogy, it is the difference between playing according to the rules, and playing well, so that one may win the game. Adopting an ethical approach to AI confers what we define here as a “dual advantage”. On one side, ethics enables organisations to take advantage of the social value that AI enables. This is the advantage of being able to identify and leverage new opportunities that are socially acceptable or preferable. On the other side, ethics enables organisations to anticipate and avoid or at least minimise costly mistakes. This is the advantage of prevention and mitigation of courses of action that turn out to be socially unacceptable and hence rejected, even when legally unquestionable. This also lowers the opportunity costs of choices not made or options not grabbed for fear of mistakes.

Ethics’ dual advantage can only function in an environment of public trust and clear responsibilities more broadly. Public acceptance and adoption of AI technologies will occur only if the benefits are seen as meaningful and risks as potential, yet preventable, minimisable, or at least something against which one can be protected, through risk management (e.g. insurance) or redressing. These attitudes will depend in turn on public engagement with the development of AI technologies, openness about how they operate, and understandable, widely accessible mechanisms of regulation and redress. In this way, an ethical approach to AI can also be seen as an early warning system against risks that might endanger entire organisations. The clear value to any organisation of the dual advantage of an ethical approach to AI amply justifies the expense of engagement, openness, and contestability that such an approach requires.