Corporate Ethics in a Digital Age

Publication type: Board briefing
04 June 2019

Tags: Technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI)

This Board Briefing suggests questions for those in the boardroom to ask to help address the ethical challenges of AI in their businesses. It uses case studies to highlight the real-world dilemmas which boards are facing.

Speed read

Chapter 1 provides an overview and context, examining the risks and opportunities of AI and data protection legislation.

Chapter 2 presents nine challenges around the use of AI such as avoiding bias, treating customers, employees and contractors fairly, dealing with cyberattacks and keeping data secure. These challenges are less about the technology itself than how it is applied, requiring a philosophical and Summary ethical approach from directors to resolving the dilemmas which AI provokes. The decisions that boards must take will fit naturally, therefore, into their general view of risk appetite, risk management and oversight.

Chapter 3 discusses the expertise needed in the boardroom to mitigate these risks effectively. Directors need to be able to ask the right questions, insist on answers they can understand and set limits. Boards need to understand what and how technology contributes and they need access to good advice.

The requirement to manage the consequences of Artificial Intelligence is a major challenge from which boards and corporate leadership cannot abstain. The principal aim of this Board Briefing is to encourage boards to put this issue firmly on their agenda.

Corporate Ethics in a Digital Age addresses how the growing reliance on data and the integration of AI into business activity has thrown up some large challenges for governance.

Boards not only have to manage a new set of risks and opportunities – they do so in a world that is rapidly changing in ways that make it harder for them to exercise control.

This Board Briefing suggests questions for those in the boardroom to ask help address the ethical challenges of AI in their businesses. It uses case studies to highlight the real-world dilemmas which boards are facing.

IBE Board Briefing - Corporate Ethics in a Digital Age
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