[ad_1]
by Fintechnews Switzerland
December 20, 2023
How can firms be certain that they make accountable, reasoned, and clear use of synthetic intelligence?
At a time when the European Union is legislating to offer a greater framework for AI, Ethos has printed its third research on the digital duty of the most important firms listed on the Swiss inventory trade.
Whereas progress has been remodeled the previous three years, the research additionally reveals that the majority firms are nonetheless not very clear about their insurance policies on this space and should not very well-prepared to cope with the numerous points linked to their digital duty.
Generative AI, autonomous automobiles, surveillance, and facial recognition: synthetic intelligence (AI) was on the coronary heart of the information in 2023. Whereas the European Union has simply agreed on an unprecedented laws at world degree to control its use, Ethos is publishing its third consecutive yearly research on the digital duty of the most important listed firms in Switzerland.
How do firms guarantee accountable use of AI? What insurance policies are they setting up to fight information leakage? What measures are they taking to cut back the environmental and social footprint of the applied sciences they use? Carried out in collaboration with EthicsGrade, this research examines firms’ practices in seven digital-related areas: governance, transparency, information safety, AI, delicate actions, and social and environmental impression.
The 50 largest firms listed in Switzerland (SMI Expanded) got three months to reply round 100 questions. On the identical time, the identical questionnaire was accomplished for every firm primarily based on publicly accessible data (web sites, annual stories, sustainability stories, codes of conduct, and many others.).
A rising variety of good examples
The principle discovering of this third research is that the outcomes are as soon as once more on the rise. All the businesses have seen their rating enhance from one yr to the following, proof that the dialogue and awareness-raising efforts undertaken by the Ethos Basis since 2020 are bearing fruit. The common rating rose from 22.8 factors (out of 100) in 2022 to 27.5 factors this yr, with a most of 91.3 factors for Swisscom. It was solely 10.5 factors in 2021, with a most of 39.6 factors for Baloise. In all, eight firms scored greater than 50 factors in 2023, whereas solely three had exceeded 20 factors within the first research.
Maybe much more encouraging, the outcomes primarily based on public data alone, which mirror the extent of transparency of firms, are additionally up. The common is 15.6 factors in 2023, in contrast with 11.2 factors in 2022 and eight.5 factors in 2021. The perfect end result, once more obtained by Swisscom, is 40 factors, in contrast with 28.3 factors in 2022 and simply 18 factors within the first research (Adecco). In 2023, 12 firms obtained a rating primarily based on public data of greater than 20 factors.
Among the many most important enhancements is the truth that 39 of the 50 firms analysed not solely have a cybersecurity technique in place, but additionally publish data on the topic. This corresponds to a rise of 25 firms since 2021. Or the truth that at the very least 40 firms have measures in place to cut back the environmental impression of the digital applied sciences they use, in contrast with simply eight in 2021. Two firms (Georg Fischer and Baloise) haven’t solely adopted a digital duty code however have additionally printed it. In so doing, they met certainly one of Ethos’ key expectations.
Whereas this transparency doesn’t assure that firms will behave past reproach, it’s nonetheless important. Not solely does it have interaction the duty of administration and allow any inconsistencies between public commitments and precise actions to be detected, however it additionally permits Ethos to attract on concrete examples – each good and dangerous – when advocating finest apply to all firms.
A widening hole between the perfect and worst performers
Vincent Kaufmann
“Though simple progress has been remodeled the previous three years, there may be nonetheless a substantial amount of room for enchancment,”
stresses Vincent Kaufmann, CEO of the Ethos Basis.
“Particularly, Swiss firms are nonetheless very reluctant to speak publicly on points as vital as information safety and AI. Additionally it is regrettable that Nestlé, Novartis and Roche, the three largest inventory market capitalisations in Switzerland, persist in not collaborating voluntarily within the Ethos survey, regardless of the significance of those points, significantly of their sectors of exercise”.
What is maybe most worrying is the widening hole between these firms that appear to have grasped the dimensions of the problems and the significance of demonstrating a level of transparency in direction of them and the others.
Almost half of the businesses focused by this research obtained a last rating of lower than 20 factors. Among the many most worrying factors is the truth that solely eight firms within the SMI Expanded, 5 greater than in 2021, have adopted or declare to have adopted moral rules regarding using AI. Or the truth that solely eight firms declare to have a working group that focuses on points associated to ethics in AI, solely certainly one of which has public coaching on the topic.
Featured picture credit score: edited from freepik
[ad_2]
Source link
