Steven Umbrello was interviewed by the Capgemini Research Institute in their latest report: AI and the Ethical Conundrum: How organizations can build ethically robust AI systems and gain trust. They surveyed over 800 organizations and 2,900 consumers to get a picture of the state of ethics in AI today. Capgemini wanted to understand what organizations can do to move to AI systems that are ethical by design, how they can benefit from doing so, and the consequences if they don’t. They found that while customers are becoming more trusting of AI-enabled interactions, organizations’ progress in ethical dimensions is underwhelming. And this is dangerous because once violated, trust can be difficult to rebuild.

Technology in general, and AI in particular, is not value-neutral. The design decisions that are taken while developing AI impart certain values to AI whether we want them to or not. The key is to bridge the gap between high-level principles and design of AI systems. Steven Umbrello, Managing director for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technology