Ethics Practices in AI Development: An Empirical Study Across Roles and Regions

TL;DR

This empirical study investigates how AI development professionals across different roles and regions perceive and practice AI ethics, highlighting the need for inclusive, role-sensitive approaches to ethical AI development.

Contribution

It provides comprehensive data on ethical perceptions and practices among diverse AI stakeholders worldwide, emphasizing tailored strategies for ethical AI implementation.

Findings

Varying familiarity with AI ethics principles across roles and regions

Importance of collaborative, stakeholder-inclusive ethical decision-making

Need for tailored educational and policy interventions

Abstract

Recent advances in AI applications have raised growing concerns about the need for ethical guidelines and regulations to mitigate the risks posed by these technologies. In this paper, we present a mixed-methods survey study - combining statistical and qualitative analyses - to examine the ethical perceptions, practices, and knowledge of individuals involved in various AI development roles. Our survey comprises 414 participants from 43 countries, representing various roles such as AI managers, analysts, developers, quality assurance professionals, and information security and privacy experts. The results reveal varying degrees of familiarity and experience with AI ethics principles, government initiatives, and risk mitigation strategies across roles, regions, and other demographic factors. Our findings underscore the importance of a collaborative, role-sensitive approach that involves diverse stakeholders in ethical decision-making throughout the AI development lifecycle. We advocate for developing tailored, inclusive solutions to address ethical challenges in AI development, and we propose future research directions and educational strategies to promote ethics-aware AI practices.