Key Takeaways
- Responsible AI is critical to ensure AI systems are developed and used ethically and legally. Beyond ensuring compliance, responsible AI can also provide financial benefits and build greater trust.
- To ensure that AI is being adopted safely and responsibly, organizations must consider how their AI systems are managing privacy and security risks, complying ethically, and meeting regulatory compliance.
- Check that the AI technologies and vendors you implement are held accountable to responsible AI development through certifications like ISO/IEC 42001, the world’s first AI management system standard.
- Liferay is committed to upholding responsible AI principles in our own AI Management System (AIMS), as validated by our ISO/IEC 42001 certification, which provides a solid foundation for scaling our AI efforts responsibly and navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of AI governance and regulation.
The Importance of Responsible AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) has unlocked incredible efficiency and innovation in industries like finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and more. However, adopting AI systems requires that these tools are developed and used ethically, safely, and securely. It's not just enough to use AI, companies need to use AI responsibly.
Why is Responsible AI Important?
As AI technologies become more critical in everyday operations, there is a growing need to drive responsible AI practices to govern and control AI use and development.
Responsible AI is the practice of developing and using AI systems both legally and ethically, in a way that benefits society while minimizing the risk of negative consequences, according to the International Organization for Standardization.
What are the Benefits of Responsible AI?
While prioritizing responsible AI helps to ensure compliance with global regulations and mitigate costly lawsuits, advancing responsible AI can also:
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Mitigate bias and potential risks that can arise when leveraging AI solutions. In fact, a study performed by PWC found that organizations engaging in responsible AI reduced the frequency of adverse AI-related incidents by as much as half. And when these incidents did occur, they were able to recover their financial value more rapidly.
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Providing financial benefits, according to the same study conducted by PWC, these organizations could achieve revenues that were 4% higher than companies investing in compliance only.
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Building trust with the public and employees. Companies that invested in responsible AI saw 7% higher levels of trust than their peers.
Key Principles for Responsible AI Systems
How can you ensure that AI is being adopted and used responsibly? Check to see if these AI systems are:
Managing Privacy and Security Risks
If not properly secured, AI systems can introduce new cyber risks and vulnerabilities. For example, here are some key risks that can be associated with generative AI:
| Data Breaches | AI systems rely on vast amounts of data. If the training data is not properly secured, then they become easy targets for cybercriminals, accessing personal and sensitive customer or business data. |
| Data Leaks |
Unlike breaches, data leaks are the accidental exposure of sensitive data. For example, ChatGPT has shown users the titles of other users' conversations histories. |
| Data Manipulation | Attackers can compromise the integrity and performance of AI systems. By injecting malicious data or even altering the model itself, these attackers can manipulate the model's behavior and output for harmful purposes. |
| Unauthorized Data Collection and Use | AI models may collect data without a proper legal basis or use it for purposes beyond the original intent, leading to privacy violations. |
Business leaders can devise AI security approaches to help protect their users' data and privacy, including conducting risk assessments, confirming the appropriate legal basis, following security best practices, and providing more protection for sensitive data.
Complying with AI Ethics
Ethical considerations with AI include bias and discrimination, as AI can perpetuate unfair patterns from biased data or misinformation. According to UNESCO, the four core values that should guide ethical AI use include respecting the good of humanity, individuals, societies, and the environment. As Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, says, "AI will be an integral part of solving the world's biggest problems, but it must be developed in a way that reflects human values".
For example, if an HR team uses a machine learning algorithm to identify potential candidates, but this hiring algorithm has identified that past successful candidates were predominately men, it may favor or only prioritize male applicants.
It becomes critical to acknowledge how unconscious associations can affect AI models and result in biased outputs. Responsible AI development should include identifying sources of biases, creating inclusive prompts, and ensuring human oversight throughout the entire stage of the AI lifecycle, from research and development to deployment and maintenance.
Additionally, AI has been used maliciously like in deepfakes, which calls into question ethical concerns on what users have or have not consented to. Not only do deepfakes deceive and compromise personal image, they can also pose a severe threat to national security if used to incite political arguments or gain, according to Dr. Tim Stevens of the Cyber Security Research Group at King's College in London.
As Sri Amit Ray puts it in his book, Ethical AI Systems: Frameworks, Principles, and Advanced Practices, “ethics is the compass that guides artificial intelligence towards responsible and beneficial outcomes. Without ethical considerations, AI becomes a tool of chaos and harm.”
Meeting Regulatory Compliance
AI compliance is a process that involves ensuring all AI-powered systems are compliant with applicable laws and regulations. While compliance is necessary to protect the safety and privacy of constituents, it also helps organizations avoid potential legal and financial risks.
AI governance and regulations still lag behind compared to the exponential rate of innovation, but one of the most critical legislations is the EU Artificial Intelligence Act. In 2021, the European Commission introduced the world's first comprehensive regulatory framework for AI. The EU AI Act classifies AI systems based on the risk they pose to users, categorizing from minimal to high-risk applications, placing more stringent regulations on higher risk applications. For example, a high-risk AI system that is used to manage public services and benefits or to evaluate job candidates profiles is required to be assessed before being put on the market.
While other regions and countries have varying outlooks on AI legislations, there’s no doubt that we can expect more regulations to come as AI continues to expand and innovate. In order to actually use AI responsibly, organizations will need to be alert and diligent to evolve and comply with the changing laws.
Advancing Responsible AI
The rate at which AI will continue to accelerate will only increase the accompanying risks and uncertainties which regulations will need to be put in place. It then becomes even more critical to ensure that the AI technologies and vendors you implement are held accountable to responsible development.
A key way to identify these partners is by looking for certifications like ISO/IEC 42001, the world’s first AI management system standard.
What is ISO/IEC 42001?
This specific framework helps organizations establish, implement, maintain, and improve an AI management system. It ensures that organizations commit to delivering responsible and compliant AI development, design, and use, including:
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Establishing an AI management system (AIMS), a structured framework to govern AI projects, AI models, and integrated AI tools.
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AI risk management to identify, assess, and mitigate related risks, including bias and data protection.
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Ethical AI principles to encourage transparency and fairness.
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Monitoring and improving AI performance and refining strategies.
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Promoting responsible AI through involving compliance teams and stakeholders who can educate the entire organization on how to continuously securely develop and use AI technologies.
Receiving this certification validates an organization's commitment to responsible and compliant AI development, design, and use. This shows that these organizations are proactively taking measures towards compliance and risk mitigation, ensuring that they can foster trust, prepare for future legal requirements, and ultimately gain a competitive AI edge.
How AI is Leveraged Responsibly and Securely in Liferay
To help businesses create digital experiences, Liferay has embraced AI within its platform to drive innovation and create greater value for customers. However, Liferay recognizes that customers want trustworthy AI and for vendors to address ethical concerns, potential security risks, and legal compliance.
Currently, Liferay's platform helps to integrate responsible AI as a part of a "Bring Your Own AI (BYO-AI) model rather than providing AI systems as a part of its offering, as further outlined in this documentation. However, Liferay is committed to upholding responsible AI principles in our own AI Management System (AIMS), as validated by our ISO/IEC 42001 certification, which provides a solid foundation for scaling our AI efforts responsibly and navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of AI governance and regulation.
Our AIMS is designed and certified in a comprehensive manner that would cover AI capabilities we might incorporate into our offerings in the future, including those sourced through integrations. The team will continually monitor and conduct frequent audits to ensure our AI systems remain fair, transparent, and secure and our employees will receive regular training to ensure they understand responsible AI practices.
Learn more about Liferay’s AIMS and its commitment to responsible AI here.
