Does your company need an AI ethics committee?

Consumer faith in businesses in most markets worldwide is wallowing in "stagnant distrust" – according to the Edelman Trust Barometer – and Australia is no exception. The recent Banking Royal Commission exposed some shocking misdemeanors across the financial services sector, Facebook appears to be trapped in an endless cycle of data misuse scandals, while breaches of customer data held by Australia's biggest businesses are now depressingly frequent. According to a recent CA Technologies commissioned report by analyst firm Frost & Sullivan, Australian consumers had the lowest overall level of'digital trust' – their confidence in brands to appropriately collect, store and use their digital information – in the world. Across nearly all sectors consumer trust is low and in decline, ranking only slightly higher than citizens' trust in politicians and the media. At first appraisal, an organisation's use of artificial intelligence related technologies would appear to put those pitifully low trust stocks at risk.