An Ethical Approach to Artificial Intelligence
13 March 2025
What is the ethical issue?
The amount of personal information available and the different ways in which it is collected has expanded exponentially in recent decades. Connected devices, from cars to smartwatches, which generally assist people in their daily lives, use the internet to transmit, collect and analyse data.
The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), introduced in 2018, has created a challenge for organisations to apply ethical values to data capture, and be transparent and responsible when doing so. GDPR has sought to give control back to individuals over how organisations use their personal data, and has encouraged transparency so that organisations demonstrate the value of exchanging data.
Although companies have greater access to data, there is also a responsibility to use it responsibly.
The 'data trust deficit', where public trust in the appropriate use of their data by companies is lower than trust generally, has potential to negatively affect the reputation of companies or whole industries, such as the scale of technology and data use.
Data privacy breaches may be complex, and organisations may face an ethical dilemma as to how and when to disclose. On the one hand, organisations may want to be open and transparent; on the other hand, they may fear losing customers or investors.
IBE Guidance
A summary of good practice
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Organisations must balance the consent, collection and use of data to improve performance and services, with a commitment to respect the privacy of stakeholders.
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Organisations also need to have appropriate security measures in place to ensure personal data is protected from destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. Customers and other stakeholders need to be assured that the information they provide is safe and confidentially stored.
- In the wake of significant data breaches, organisations must ensure they have measures in place to report openly and transparently what they are doing to ensure that the personal data of all stakeholders is protected. If there has been a breach, the organisation must consider carefully its obligations to its stakeholders with regards to disclosure.
Further resources
Business Ethics in the News 2021
This resource presents an overview of the ethical concerns and lapses, as well as the positive business ethics stories, that the IBE recorded for its media monitoring exercise in 2021. It provides an analysis of the year’s trends and the issues and sectors that featured most frequently.
24 January 2022
Business Ethics in the News 2020
This briefing provides an overview of the ethical concerns and lapses that were recorded by the IBE in its monitoring of media coverage in 2020.
23 December 2020
Embedding Business Ethics: 2020 report on corporate ethics policies and programmes
This report is the ninth in the triennial series looking at corporate ethics policies and programmes. It is the IBE’s longest-running survey series, and continues to give valuable insights into how companies run their ethics programmes.
01 April 2020
Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics: 2019
The 2019 results of the IBE's annual survey of the attitudes of the British public to business ethics.
17 December 2019
Corporate Ethics in a Digital Age
This Board Briefing suggests questions for those in the boardroom to ask to help address the ethical challenges of AI in their businesses. It uses case studies to highlight the real-world dilemmas which boards are facing.
04 June 2019
The Ethical Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media Use
Social media presents organisations with both ethical challenges and opportunities. As it blurs the boundaries between our personal lives and work, it can be a difficult balance for companies to protect their reputations, uphold their responsibilities to stakeholders, and empower employees to use social media ethically and effectively.
02 May 2019
Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics: 2018
The 2018 results of the IBE's annual survey of the attitudes of the British public to business ethics
13 December 2018
Beyond Law: Ethical culture and GDPR
What are the wider ethical implications of GDPR? How can an organisation’s values be embedded and monitored so that the new regulation becomes a measure of those, rather than simply a set of compliance rules that must be ticked off?
30 May 2018
Business Ethics and Big Data
This briefing seeks to bring some clarity to the ethical issues related to Big Data, defining why they are relevant to companies and where the main ethical risks might lie. It also provides a set of questions that can help ethics practitioners liaise with their colleagues and make sure that their organisation lives up to its values when dealing with Big Data.
07 June 2016
