INSEE Director-General Jean-Luc Tavernier (R), flanked by French-Swiss economist and associate professor Antoine Bozio (2ndR), Senior economist at the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs of the OECD Sandrine Cazes (L) and Neoma business school teacher Gilbert Cette (2ndR), speaks as they attend a social conference with trade unions and employers at the French Conseil Economique, Social et Environnemental (CESE - Economic, Social and Environmental Council) in Paris on October 16, 2023. (AFP)

Employers Skimp on AI Ethics: OECD Finds

Febin MathewNovember 6, 23 Artificial Intelligence

According to a study by the OECD, employers are not giving much consideration to the ethical risks associated with the rapid development of AI applications, despite growing concerns.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development searched online for job offers for artificial intelligence jobs in 14 countries.

It found that while the percentage of ethics-related keywords had risen sharply over the past four years, it remained very low, at an average of 0.4% in 2022.

“The results show that keywords related to AI ethics were mentioned in the majority of countries in less than 1% of all job vacancies,” the OECD said in its annual job skills report.

In the US in 2019, only 0.1% of all online job postings for AI professionals mentioned any keyword related to AI ethics.

These were for vacancies where potential employees are required to have skills related to the development and use of artificial intelligence, but in 2022 the figure had risen to 0.5 percent.

New Zealand scored the highest at 1.6 percent in 2022.

“This suggests that despite strong commitments by countries and stated intentions by AI development companies, AI ethics have not yet been prioritized in hiring decisions,” the report states.

“These considerations must be prioritized.”

The release of ChatGPT and other generative AI systems has captivated the public and provided a glimpse into the potential of the technology.

These new systems can quickly produce text, images and sound from simple commands in everyday language.

But they have also raised concerns about issues ranging from job losses to cyber-attacks and people-management systems.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hosted political and technology leaders at the International Security Summit on Artificial Intelligence last week.

Before the meeting, the G7 countries agreed on non-binding “codes of ethics” for companies developing the most advanced artificial intelligence systems.

But governments seem to be catching up to regulate the rapidly evolving technology.

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