The ethical use of AI and how it is governed today and as it continues to evolve in the years ahead is top of mind for many in the profession. Accountancy Ireland asks three Chartered Accountants for their take on the ethics of AI
Owen Lewis
Head of AI and Management Consulting
KPMG in Ireland
It is crucial for all of us in the profession to ensure the integrity and transparency of solutions driven by artificial intelligence (AI).
We must audit and validate AI algorithms to ensure they comply with regulatory standards and ethical guidelines. Monitoring systems for biases and inaccuracies is also crucial to ensuring that financial data and decisions remain fair and reliable.
By providing independent oversight, we can help to maintain trust in AI-driven financial processes and outcomes for clients.
Where AI is used to inform large-scale decisions, it should be supplemented with significant governance measures, such as explainability, transparency, human oversight, data quality and model robustness and performance requirements.
This technology is continuing to advance rapidly, and we need to be open to both its current and potential capabilities.
By putting the correct governance mechanisms and controls in place – beginning with low-risk test applications and building from there – organisations can adopt AI safely and obtain real benefits from its use.
I am working with organisations to help them think through what AI means for them, develop strategies for its adoption, put the necessary governance and controls in place, scale solutions sensibly and ensure business leaders get real value from their investment.
Whatever their goal may be – more efficient operations, accelerated content generation or improved engagement with stakeholders – we help organisations decide if AI can help, and if it can, how to use it in the right way.
>Bob Semple
Experienced Director
Governance and Risk Management
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most misunderstood, yet transformative, technologies impacting the way we work today. Here are 10 essential steps Chartered Accountants should take to navigate the landscape of AI effectively.
- Take a leadership role – If we don’t take the lead, we risk missing the golden opportunity AI presents.
- Conduct an AI “stocktake” –According to a recent Microsoft survey, 75 percent of employees are already using AI. Identifying current AI usage within your organisation is essential.
- Assess the downside risks of AI – Legislative and regulatory requirements are exploding (e.g. NIS 2, the AI Act, DORA and more) and risks abound (AI bias, explainability, privacy, IP, GDPR, cyber security, resilience, misuse, model drift and more). Organisations must act on their AI responsibilities.
- Conduct a dataset stocktake – Just as the Y2K challenge was about identifying IT systems, today’s challenge is to catalogue all datasets, as these are crucial for AI functionality.
- Draft appropriate policies and procedures – Establish clear responsibilities and accountability for AI initiatives. Pay special attention to how AI impacts decision-making processes.
- Strengthen data curation – Implement new processes to improve how data is collected and used.
- Identify opportunities for the smart use of AI – Brainstorm and prioritise AI use-cases that can drive efficiency and innovation.
- Provide training – Ensure that board members, management and staff are all adequately trained on AI principles and applications.
- Manage the realisation of benefits – Safeguard against excessive costs and subpar returns by carefully managing the implementation of AI projects.
- Update audit and assurance approaches – Seek independent assurance on AI applications and leverage AI to enhance risk, control and audit processes.
As we adopt AI, it is critical that we pay particular attention to distorted agency – i.e. giving too much agency to, or relying unduly on, AI outputs and doubting our own agency to make the most important decisions.
Exercising professional judgement is the key to minimising the risks associated with AI and realising its benefits, and that surely is the strength of every Chartered Accountant.
*Note: GPT4 was used to assist in drafting this article.
Níall Fitzgerald
Head of Ethics and Governance
Chartered Accountants Ireland
Artificial intelligence (AI) is proving to be transformative, impacting competitiveness and how business is done.
Chartered Accountants Ireland has engaged with members working in various finance and C-suite positions, including chief executives, chief financial officers and board members, to understand how AI is impacting their day-to-day work.
One thing is clear. AI is being used in some shape or form in many businesses across the country.
In 2023, the Institute’s response to the UK’s Financial Reporting Council proposals on introducing governance requirements for the use of AI noted several governance mechanisms that are likely to be impacted by AI currently or in the very near future in many organisations.
We highlighted the focus on corporate purpose and how market forces, emerging threats and opportunities driven by AI, may challenge the purpose of an organisation and its long-term objectives.
AI may impact how organisations decide on their strategic focus in terms of how they deliver their product or service and, indeed, how their product or service is designed in the first instance.
It may also impact these organisations’ values as they consider how to deploy and use AI in an ethical manner. The EU AI Act, which enters into force on 1 August 2024 over a phased basis, introduces requirements for the development of codes of conducts, risk and impact assessments and staff training to ensure adequate human oversight around the use of AI systems within organisations.
This has specific resonance for Chartered Accountants who are members of a profession bound by a code of ethics governing objectivity, confidentiality, integrity, professional behaviour and competence and due care.
Chartered Accountants must now ensure that they understand how AI uses, analyses and then outputs data.
Organisations must ensure that any AI-driven information they share, and how they deploy the technology itself, satisfies principles of integrity, honesty and transparency.
Chartered Accountants are well-positioned, with their ethical mindsets, to ensure the integrity of AI systems, and their use within organisations.
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