37 enterprises committed to ethical application of AI

A total of 37 enterprises and other operators are already committed to drawing up ethical principles for artificial intelligence (AI), said a government press release on Friday.

The principles will define how AI is used in fair and trust-building ways. Both large and small Finnish enterprises, representing a variety of sectors, are participating along with public sector operators. A kick-off event took place in Helsinki on Friday.

“Artificial intelligence raises a number of ethical issues, even risks. It fosters trust when enterprises take these issues seriously and design AI solutions that benefit their customers. It is great that so many enterprises have already signed up for the challenge,” said Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä, who launched the ethics challenge in September. The challenge is part of Finland’s Artificial Intelligence Programme.

The goal is to get 300 enterprises and other organisations to sign up for the challenge by the end of the year.

The Finnish enterprises K Group, OP Group and Stora Enso were part of the team ideating the challenge, and they were also the first organisations to sign up for it.

“K Group ranks among the most socially responsible commercial enterprises in the world and is the market leader in Finland. It is only natural that all our AI-related work is guided and supported by ethical principles for applying AI,” said Minna Vakkilainen, Head of Analytics and Customer Data at K Group.

“The economic success and prosperity of our customers are key goals for our efforts to deploy intellectual capital and artificial intelligence. Our customers’ trust in the ethics of AI lays the foundations for all our AI planning,” said Antti Myllymäki, Head of Artificial Intelligence at OP Group.

“We at Stora Enso build our operations on ethically sustainable grounds, and we want to be among the first in figuring out the role of ethics in harnessing new technologies,” said Samuli Savo, Chief Digital Officer at Stora Enso.