Is Your Organization Using AI? Here’s How to Do it Ethically

Around the world, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are rapidly expanding. Even though generative AI is only in its infancy, the cross-cultural and cross-industry use cases we envision for it can seem limitless. From chatbots and language translation to generative music and images, GenAI’s potential applications – especially as it relates to skilling and training – are certainly worth watching.

At Skillsoft, we’re proud to be at the forefront of providing AI-driven, transformative learning experiences. We have incorporated AI into our Percipio platform in meaningful ways, continually experimenting and testing so that we can innovate, learn, and share those insights with our community.

But even as we embrace AI as a tool to propel workforce transformation, we understand that we have a serious responsibility to ensure we are using AI technology in a way that is ethical and just – and extend that insight to our employees through training.

Before we talk about how to make sure everyone is on the same page about what is ethical, here is how we are using AI technology in our own business.

We use AI to benefit users of the platform and users who access Skillsoft content through learning management system (LMS) integrations:

• Improve search and discovery, making it easier for learners to find what they need;
• Link skills, roles, and learning together to guide career paths; and
• Generate new content and curation, enabling users to assess their skills as they build confidence and understanding and to curate learning paths for trending topics automatically.

But even as we continue to innovate with AI, we deliberately keep ethics top-of-mind. We want to provide our team with the guardrails necessary to innovate, while also keeping our mission, vision, and corporate values in mind.

Skillsoft’s compliance training solution now offers content related to using AI ethically within your organization. And we’ve compiled some key takeaways for you to take into account when integrating AI into your corporate strategy.

A critical piece of implementing ethical and successful compliance training initiatives is staying updated on ethical guidelines, standards, and best practices in the field. Over the past several years, there’s been an increase in legislative actions around the globe that are working to protect the privacy of individuals’ data. This has, in turn, created some complexity for companies as they strive to stay up-to-date on the newest guidelines so they can properly comply with the regulations.

That’s why it’s important to ensure that your organization’s data collection, usage practices, and training protocols are aligned with local and global privacy laws and regulations such as The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and The General Personal Data Protection Law (LGPD). Not to mention the importance of following emerging laws and regulations that may be applicable such as the first EU regulatory framework for AI or The Blueprint for the AI Bill of Rights in the United States.

Even though some of these regulations might not originate from your country of origin, if you do business in any affected locations, you are responsible for adhering to all applicable guidelines. In the absence of formal AI law or regulations, these set of laws still work to impact the business implementation of AI.

Be transparent with your employees, vendors, customers, and other stakeholders about how their data is collected, stored, and used, and implement strong data protection measures, such as encryption and access controls, to safeguard personal information.

The bias that can be perpetuated by GenAI tools can have serious negative impacts on historically marginalized or vulnerable populations. These impacts are particularly harmful because they are hard to see.

Therefore, the most important thing to ensure about AI-driven compliance training is that it operates fairly, meaning that the predictive decisions that it outputs are reflective of social and legal norms around equality of opportunity, including safeguards against unsafe, inaccurate, and biased outcomes for protected classes.

Here are some specific governance practices you can implement within your organization’s compliance training initiatives:

1. Establish a clear policy for AI fairness, accountability, and transparency that is communicated to all team members, and regularly audit and evaluate your models for potential bias, particularly regarding race, gender, or other protected attributes.
2. Take steps to identify and mitigate biases in your compliance training, such as requiring that your generative AI systems (whether licensed or built in-house) are reviewed periodically for bias and fairness.
3. Establish data collection, diverse model training, and ongoing monitoring to prevent biased outcomes.
4. Institute a vetting process for outside vendors to ensure that their practices meet your company’s standards.

Raising the level of awareness across your team and applying generative AI ethically within your organization is crucial for ensuring that AI systems are used responsibly and in a manner that respects individuals’ rights, values, and societal well-being.

As the use of generative AI grows, so does the need to responsibly use this powerful application. Through staying up-to-date on technology-related user safety and privacy legislations, fostering a culture of ethics and responsible generative AI use, and encouraging open dialogue and a learning mindset when it comes to AI ethics, you can help change the culture around AI within your organization and successfully implement compliance training that is both effective and ethical.

By prioritizing ethics in your organization's AI-driven compliance initiatives, you can build trust, mitigate risks, and contribute to the responsible and beneficial use of generative AI technology in your company and beyond.

To learn more about how to ethically and effectively implement AI-driven compliance training into your organization, check out our other resources at www.skillsoft.com/compliance and start making a difference today.