In our previous essay, we emphasized the necessity of collaboration among diverse stakeholders to effectively navigate the interdisciplinary nature of AI ethics. This week, we pursue two objectives: first, we examine the practical realities and advantages of a multistakeholderism approach to AI ethics. Second, we back our words with action by extending a special invitation for collaborators to join our Business AI Ethics community, both within and beyond the Harvard / Cambridge ecosystem.
Multistakeholderism and AI Ethics
Multistakeholder approaches, increasingly prevalent in addressing complex societal issues, are reshaping products, business models, and governance frameworks for solution development (sometimes in the form of digital public goods). But what is multistakeholderism, and how does it influence AI ethics?
In the context of technology governance, multistakeholderism involves collaboration among various sectors - government, civil society, commercial enterprises, academia, and international development organizations – to shape technology-enabled systems collaboratively. By incorporating diverse expertise and perspectives, this approach ensures that relevant parties contribute to shaping these systems.
Applying multistakeholderism to AI ethics involves diverse stakeholders (individuals and institutions) collaborating to identify and mitigate ethical implications arising from AI systems. It entails breaking silos and expanding the boundaries of modern ethics and AI governance to incorporate insights from within and outside the AI community.
Principles of Multistakeholder Collaboration for AI Ethics
- Inclusivity and Diversity. Emphasize the importance of ensuring that a multistakeholder approach includes diverse perspectives from a wide variety of stakeholders representing different backgrounds and communities. Further, the comprehensiveness of stakeholder inclusion has been shown to reduce bias and discrimination in large language models.
-
Decentralization and Government Collaboration. We observe new decentralized governance frameworks to reduce single point of failure risk especially prevalent in many existing governance models. Decentralized governance across the AI ecosystem would help ensure critical governance responsibilities are appropriately free from government capture. As such, we stress the need for commercial enterprises to collaborate with governments to promote the development of reasonable AI regulations.
-
Global Collaboration and Harmonization. We recognize the global nature of AI and the need for collaboration and harmonization of ethical standards and guidelines across borders. The AI community will benefit from the perspectives and experiences of stakeholders in a diverse set of jurisdictions to address shared challenges and ensure consistency in ethical frameworks. After all, “we get better answers to global questions when a range of experts and interests can meaningfully take part in the discussion.”
Beyond principles, there are a variety of practical actions that will prove necessary. Such actions include stakeholder mapping and building clear lines of communication and collaboration, either through existing institutions, or the development of targeted coalitions, collaborations, or fora to promote action.
Special Call: Join our AI ethics community
We invite experts, enthusiasts, and interested parties from various disciplines to join our multistakeholder Business AI Ethics community. Whether you aim to explore AI ethics issues, conduct research in this or an adjacent field, or provide underrepresented perspectives in sciences, humanities or business, we welcome your involvement.
Please reach out to Jeff if you’re interested in joining our community: jeffreysaviano@fas.harvard.edu
***
Until next week.
- Jeffrey Saviano: Business AI Ethics Initiative Leader; Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University jeffreysaviano@fas.harvard.edu
- Jonathan Hack: Director of Content & Strategy; Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University jhack@fas.harvard.edu
- Vincent Okonkwo: Research Assistant; LL.M Candidate, Harvard Law School vokonkwo@llm24.law.harvard.edu
- Shuying (Christina) Huo: Research Assistant; Harvard University visiting undergraduate shuying_huo@college.harvard.edu
The Business AI Ethics research team is part of the Edmond & Lily Safra Center’s ongoing effort to promote the application of ethics in practice. Their research assists business leaders in examining the promise and challenges of AI technologies through an ethical lens. Views expressed in these posts are those of the author(s) and do not imply endorsement by ELSCE.