Category: Uncategorized

AI ethics for business – Part 1

I recently joined a small group of E&C professionals who decided to complete the free online course on AI Ethics for Business, offered by Seattle University.

We agreed to complete a module or two every week and to share our insights. Here are some of my insights from Module 1:

  • Every organization engaged in developing AI should identify the principles and values that will guide their efforts. So far, it seems that only large technology companies or professional associations have published their principles. But with regulators now starting to weigh in, organizations should accelerate their work.
  • From Google to Microsoft to the IEEE, the principles articulated are all based on similar values. My favorite value when it comes to AI ethics is transparency. If we can clearly and completely articulate what the autonomous system is doing for the human, and how, we can address many of the current and future concerns around AI.
  • People face ethical dilemmas all the time and they come up with excuses to avoid resolving them. A common excuse, which I find particularly relevant to AI ethics in business, is “hurry”, or the pressure that most employees feel to deliver products and services quickly. People want to be seen as efficient, as meeting goals, as contributing to the overall success of the company. But we all know that pressure is a key element of fraud, which, in the case of AI, can lead to disastrous effects.

To read more about this topic and about my colleagues’ insights, please visit this thread on LinkedIn.

Hitting back

A Houston Astros player was deliberately hit by a pitcher yesterday. It happened during the team’s first Spring training game following their cheating scandal.

Many say the player had it coming. Many still expect the team will suffer such revenge throughout the season. The anger is understandable. But with 30 teams in the league, the way to distinguish yourself as a team this season is to be the one that doesn’t pick on the Astros.

This event reminded me of a situation I faced early in my career. The company I worked for imposed “austerity measures” to weather through some difficult times. Employees were upset about the measures and vowed to strike back at management by doing nothing more than the absolute minimum. My supervisor called for a special team meeting and explained that this was our time to shine. We would be the only department that didn’t complain or strike back. In fact, we would now go beyond the call of duty. I’ll spare you the details, but it worked out really well for all of us, in both the short and long term.

The companies we work for operate in industries with competitors. Some competitors play fair, some don’t. We should not compromise our business ethics simply because a competitor cheated us.

Top to bottom

Your organization’s code of conduct identifies and defines the core values of your organization. This is helpful, assuming people read the code.

Your organization’s leadership speaks regularly about those core values. This is very helpful, assuming they personally live those values.

Your direct supervisor exhibits behaviors, on a daily basis, in line with the core values. This is when the values come to life.

We need a code. We need the right tone at the top. But more importantly, we need supervisors that are empowered to do the right thing and held accountable.

Choosing between two “rights”

Imagine you are the pilot of a large, long-range commercial aircraft and you need to make an emergency landing right after take-off. You must decide between dumping fuel over a populated area or landing too heavy and risking an explosion. What do you do?

It’s a difficult decision to make because both options are risky. If one option was risk-free, it would be a lot easier.

And so it goes with ethical dilemmas. Choosing between right and wrong is not difficult. The difficulty is in choosing between two rights.

Culture by process

Recently at work, the owner of a policy made changes to that policy without consulting other groups that would be impacted by the changes.

It’s something that happens with some frequency. Therefore, you could say that it’s part of our culture (i.e. “how things are really done around here”).

As I’ve said before, if you don’t like a part of your culture, you must change the processes that lead to it. In this case, we need to create a new collaboration process around policy revisions.

Now, we could go about it in many different ways. We could ask for collaboration via email, we could have a call, we could change the document that details how to change a policy, etc.

But I’m a big fan of task-based training. I like to put the “how” and the “why” right next to the activity itself, every time it is performed. This way, I don’t have to worry about how long it’s been since the last training session, the last email reminder, or about experienced people being replaced by newbies.

So going forward, the last section of all policies will read: “This policy is owned by [insert function here], will be reviewed no less often than [enter time period here], and cannot be revised without consultation with [insert other functions here].

Every time a policy owner engages in revisions, she will see this reminder. No need for additional communications or training. After a year or two or three, people will start to know that collaboration is just how we do things around here.

And not just for policies.

Why do compliance?

Most kids make their beds because they have to. They don’t care about a clean room.

As teenagers, they go to school because they have to. They’re not in awe of all they’re learning.

As adults, they go to work because they have to. Sixty-five percent of them are not engaged at work.

And those are the people to whom we say: “Do compliance because it’s the right thing to do, not because you have to.”

HT to Michaela Ahlberg

Culture: the leadership mirror

I just came across a definition of culture that I had never read before: the leadership mirror.

It’s not as good as my favorite definition, which is “culture is an outcome of your processes”. This last definition tells you how to create a culture. But the first one tells you who is responsible for culture. After all, leadership creates (or tolerates) the processes that shape the culture.

So if you are a leader and unsatisfied with your company’s culture, you know where to look.

How’s your system?

In an article titled “Changing Boeing’s corporate culture won’t be easy“, the author writes that “systemic errors can sometimes be very difficult to track down and eradicate.”

Correct.

That’s the whole point of systems, of processes. We design systems and we create processes so that some decisions don’t have to be made over and over again. Culture is simply an outcome of these processes and systems.

So yes, changing a bad system is difficult.

But so is changing a good system.

How’s your system?