Towards a responsible AI and inclusive workforce in a digital economy

This project aims to develop ethical standards for responsible AI, contributing to a sustainable, inclusive digital future.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significant potential to boost economic growth and improve our lives. Governments will need to focus on developing AI responsibly to make sure everyone has fair access to opportunities and to drive digital economic transformation.

Our project looks at how humans interact with AI and the ethical issues involved, aiming to promote sustainable, unbiased, and human-centred AI while addressing concerns like digital footprint data and the environmental and privacy impacts of AI.

Developing responsible AI to boost productivity and growth

Using responsible AI in the digital economy is key to increasing productivity while also caring for the workforce and promoting ethical innovation.

As AI changes industries, it’s important to align its use with ethical values to maximise benefits and minimise risks. While AI offers growth potential, it also presents challenges like job displacement, social inequalities, environmental impact, and concerns about digital footprint data.

Our project aims to create a framework that ensures AI promotes human wellbeing, fairness, and sustainability.

Our research tackles important challenges: reducing social inequalities by providing fair access to AI-driven opportunities, reducing economic disparities by encouraging inclusive growth, and fighting environmental damage through sustainable AI practices.

Our approach

Our research is unique in its focus on integrating mindfulness and ethical innovation into AI development within the digital economy.

Unlike traditional studies, it prioritises workforce wellbeing and human values along with productivity and growth.

Our project explores ethical AI production and regulatory strategies, bridging the gap between technological advancements and fair economic practices. A key innovation is training AI developers in mindfulness to encourage ethical decision-making and align AI with societal and environmental goals.

The study also addresses the issue of digital footprint data, examining how AI systems impact both the environment and privacy. It proposes strategies to reduce the environmental and social costs of data use, emphasising the need to cut down on unnecessary data collection and its footprint.

Our research also suggests ethics-driven policies to ensure fairness and transparency in the labour market while promoting sustainable and inclusive growth.

Key objectives:

• Ethical standards for AI: Explore principles like fairness, transparency, accountability, and privacy
• Mindfulness in AI development: Investigate how ethical decision-making can raise awareness of AI’s societal impacts
• Regulatory needs: Analyse digital regulations focused on labour protection, privacy, economic fairness, and addressing digital footprint concerns
• Societal and economic impacts: Understand AI’s effects on labour markets, inequality, and social mobility

Methodology:

The research will use an exploratory, mixed-methods approach, including:

• Literature review: Examine AI ethics frameworks
• Case studies: Investigate successful ethical AI practices
• Policy analysis: Review existing AI policies to identify areas for improvement