Ethical business in the age of AI

Whether we like it or not, technological advances are reshaping the way companies do business. Artificial intelligence, which involves the processing of huge amounts of data by machine, is becoming more and more commonplace, creating both opportunity on a grand scale and a daunting level of risk. Because boardrooms are the place where opportunity and risk are assessed and judgements made, technology is now on the governance agenda. Directors who have shied away from tackling the subject in the past have less and less excuse for ignoring it, but the question is: where and how to begin? At the Institute of Business Ethics we have been trying to work out some of the answers to the complex questions posed by the increasing use of AI.