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Towards a responsible AI and inclusive workforce in a digital economy

Completed

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

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Dr Asieh Tabaghdehi
Dr Asieh Tabaghdehi - Dr Asieh Tabaghdehi is a Senior Lecturer in Strategy and Business Economy, and Programme Lead for the BSc International Business Programme and Trade2Grow Executive Education  Programme at Ã÷ÐÇ°ËØÔ University of London, as well as, an economist and social impact advisor for the independent NGO, Social Innovation Movement.  Asieh is a well-recognised academic in digital transformation, focusing on the strategic integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies to advance sustainable business practices and address critical social and economic challenges. From 2021 to 2022, Asieh co-investigated the Digital Footprint Project, funded by the UK Research Institute (UKRI), that explored the ethical implications of digital footprint data on value creation for SMEs. One of the project outputs was the Digital Business Auditing Framework, which has been adopted internationally for smart city initiatives.  Asieh has attained an international reputation in the field of ethical integration and deployment of AI, particularly in the contexts of smart data governance. Her research integrates industry collaboration, public engagement, and policy dialogue with an emphasis on the social and economic dimensions of responsible smart city development and innovative healthcare systems. Asieh’s contributions have been widely cited in academic, practitioner, and policy outputs, and her research has informed national and international governments and businesses. Her research on connected technology has been presented as both written and oral evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee at the request of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and has been featured in national and international press. She is widely published in academic peer-reviewed journals, the press, is a frequent speaker at academic and industry conferences, and has responded to a number of policy inquiries at national and international level. She is also the author of the book Business Strategies and Ethical Challenges in the Digital Ecosystem, which addresses multiple facets of the AI ecosystem, including data ethics, governance, and innovation. In collaboration with the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Asieh co-designed the "Digital Adoption" module for the UK Government’s Help to Grow Management program, aimed at enhancing the digital capabilities of SMEs. Asieh is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, a member of the ESRC Review College, the British Academy of Management Review College, and the Energy Institute UK. She also serves as an associate practitioner at Social Value International, an associate member of the Big Innovation Centre, and  All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)- Artificial Intelligence. She is also a member of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence: Social and Digital Innovation at Ã÷ÐÇ°ËØÔ University of London. Currently, Asieh serves as the Impact Lead at the Ã÷ÐÇ°ËØÔ Centre for AI, where she leads the capability area in the Future of Work.  Asieh earned her PhD in Economics and Finance (2008) and MSc in International Money, Finance, and Investment (2015), both from Ã÷ÐÇ°ËØÔ. She joined Ã÷ÐÇ°ËØÔ in 2020 after holding academic positions at Regent’s University London, where she also served as Director for the BSc Global Management (Finance Pathway). Prior to her academic career, she gained industry experience as a business analyst, further enriching her interdisciplinary approach to research and teaching.

Related Research Group(s)

building

Strategy Entrepreneurship and International Business - Our themes of research range from entrepreneurial and internationalisation strategies of small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to inward and outward investment by large enterprises and supra-national governance.

ai

AI Social and Digital Innovation - Social, economic and strategic effects of AI and associated technologies. Impact of AI and related technologies on societies, organisations and individuals.


Partnering with confidence

Organisations interested in our research can partner with us with confidence backed by an external and independent benchmark: The Knowledge Exchange Framework. Read more.


Project last modified 06/12/2024