As the government has announced plans to almost double the adoption of artificial intelligence, 98% of IT leaders surveyed by LivePerson said they were taking steps to mitigate the risk of negative outcomes and to plan for the ethical use of AI.
The Nasdaq-listed firm polled 500 Singaporean IT, customer experience and digital decision-makers, revealing that three in five businesses surveyed (64%) have AI standards or guidelines in place.
Even then, more than half of respondents that use AI say the technology has had a positive impact on employee satisfaction (52%) and customer retention (53%).
But at the same time, the powerful outcomes that can be delivered by AI have given rise to new ethical considerations about the technology’s potential impact. The most common concerns held by Singaporean businesses are the lack of transparency in how important decisions are made (92%), unauthorised access to data (92%) and loss of privacy (91%).
Most important to the Singaporean businesses are that people and organisations responsible for creating and implementing systems are held accountable for the impact of their system (93%) and AI systems should ensure private data is protected and kept confidential (93%).
Also, the research suggests that Singaporean businesses could be doing more to minimise the potential risks. Steps businesses are taking to mitigate the risk of negative outcomes primarily include: providing reskilling training for employees (44%); consulting experts (38%); developing best practice guidelines (38%); reviewing global best practices (36%); and conducting reviews (35%) among others.
Among respondents, 39% think accountability for AI should lie with those developing AI and 37% say it should be those who deploy the technology. Within firms, respondents point to the board of directors (35%) and company leadership, including C-suites (31%).
