Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: An Operational Roadmap

The primary goal of this handbook is to help companies developing, procuring, or adopting advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, understand the ethical risks that these technologies introduce, and implement the infrastructure necessary to mitigate those risks throughout the entire product and service life cycle. The ITEC Handbook offers a thoughtful and pragmatic roadmap for providing technology ethics governance and implementing it throughout the organization. It guides enterprises on their transformation journey from adoption and implementation of ethical behavior to operationalizing ethical and humane use principles, into a new mindset and culture of technology ownership and accountability, where everyone thinks through the consequences of the technology and feels accountability for its impacts on humanity and the planet. Authored by three experienced professionals bringing their own diverse fields of expertise, conceptualizing skills, and language, the ITEC Handbook offers practical solutions written in a comprehensible way for the different functions within an organization. The book was written by José Flahaux (former hi-tech operations executive and adjunct professor in the department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at San Jose State University), Brian Green (director of technology ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics), and Ann Gregg Skeet (senior director of leadership ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics).https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/faculty_books/1600/thumbnail.jp

Managing organizational ethics: How ethics becomes pervasive within organizations

This study analyzes real experiences of culture management to better understand how ethics permeates organizations. In addition to reviewing the literature, we used an action-research methodology and conducted semistructured interviews in Spain and in the U.S. to approach the complexity and challenges of fostering a culture in which ethical considerations are a regular part of business discussions and decision making. The consistency of findings suggests patterns of organizational conditions, cultural elements, and opportunities that influence the management of organizational cultures centered on core ethical values. The ethical competencies of leaders and of the workforce also emerged as key factors. We identify three conditions—a sense of responsibility to society, conditions for ethical deliberation, and respect for moral autonomy—coupled with a diverse set of cultural elements that cause ethics to take root in culture when the opportunity arises. Leaders can use this knowledge of the mechanisms by which organizational factors influence ethical pervasiveness to better manage organizational ethics

Framework for Promoting Workforce Well-being in the AI-Integrated Workplace

The Partnership on AI’s “Framework for Promoting Workforce Well-being in the AI- Integrated Workplace” provides a conceptual framework and a set of tools to guide employers, workers, and other stakeholders towards promoting workforce well-being throughout the process of introducing AI into the workplace. As AI technologies become increasingly prevalent in the workplace, our goal is to place workforce wellbeing at the center of this technological change and resulting metamorphosis in work, well-being, and society, and provide a starting point to discuss and create pragmatic solutions. The importance of making a commitment to worker well-being in earnest has been highlighted by the COVID-19 public health and economic crises which exposed and exacerbated the long-standing inequities in the treatment of workers. Making sure those are not perpetuated further with the introduction of AI systems into the workplace requires deliberate efforts and will not happen automatically. The Framework is designed to initiate and inform discussions on the impact of AI that strengthen the reciprocal obligations between workers and employers, specifically focusing on worker well-being.1 The four tools that make up the Framework are both interrelated and independent. Use of these tools will differ by implementing organization and will depend on multiple considerations, such as funding, ability to dedicate time, stage of AI integration, etc. This paper draws upon existing work by academics, labor unions, and other institutions to explain why organizations should prioritize worker well-being. In doing so, it explores the need for a coherent AI and workforce well-being framework. It also attempts to account for different forms of AI integration into the workplace, outlines the different instances in which workers may encounter AI, and the technological aspects of AI that may impact workers. Relevant literature has been synthesized into Six Pillars of Workforce Well-being that should be prioritized and protected throughout AI integration. Human rights is the first pillar, and supports all aspects of workforce well-being. The five additional pillars of well-being include physical, financial, intellectual, emotional well-being, as well as purpose and meaning

Ethics By Design: An organizational approach to responsible use of technology

This paper focuses on aspect in a comprehensive approach to promoting the responsible, ethical use of technology, organization design to ensure that the people are creating, deploying and using technology are motivated and equipped to make ethical choices. While certain foundational ethical risks can be mitigated through the establishment of clear operational rules, many others require the capacity for ethical judgement and organizational factors that support translating that judgement into action. As technology is increasingly incorporated into the daily operations of companies across sectors, leaders must prepare their people to be aware of the ethical risks posed by emerging tools, equip them to make ethical choices even in situations in which information is imperfect or ambiguous, and motivate them to act upon that judgement in ways that advance prosocial goals. -edited from the paper\u27s forward