The digital evolution of the financial services (FS) industry is heavily reliant on having quality information and analytics to deliver services to customers and manage operations in an efficient and risk-appropriate manner. With developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) transforming the information processing and data analytics landscape, and opening up potential benefits, such as business process simplification, cost reduction, efficiency improvements and enhanced customer engagement, many FS firms have become early adopters of AI. Building and operationalising a trustworthy AI framework within an FS firm takes time and effort, however the benefits can be significant. While regulators around the globe encourage and support innovation in the FS sector, questions have been raised on whether AI has been used in an ethical and trustworthy way for customers and our society. In this report, we explore the principles underpinning ethical use of AI issued by regulators and governments in the Asia Pacific region, and what FS firms need to consider when developing their own'trustworthy AI framework'.

Cambridge engineers will build a Digital Twin of UK airspace and a related machine learning system that collaborates with humans as part of a business-led research project supporting the Government's UK Innovation Strategy. The Prosperity Partnership is one of eight being supported with an investment pot of almost £60 million by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council – part of UK Research and Innovation – businesses and universities. Professor Mark Girolami and Dr Adrian Weller are co-investigators of the collaborative research project titled Project Bluebird: An AI system for air traffic control. The vision is to deliver the world's first AI system to control airspace in live trials, working with air traffic controllers to help manage the complexities of their role. This system utilises digital twinning and machine learning technologies and includes tools and methods that promote safe and trustworthy use of AI.

Algorithms have taken a lot of flak recently, particularly those being used by the government and other public bodies in the UK. The controversial algorithm used to award student grades caused a huge public outcry, but national and local governments and several police forces have been withdrawing other algorithms and artificial intelligence tools from use throughout the year in response to legal challenges and design failures. This has quite rightly brought it home to public sector organisations that a more critical approach to AI and algorithmic decision-making is needed. But there are many cases in which government bodies can deploy such technology in lower risk, high-impact scenarios that can improve lives, particularly if they don't directly use personal data. So before we leap full pelt into AI cynicism we should consider benefits as well as risks it offers, and demand a more responsible approach to AI development and deployment.