NAVIGATING ETHICAL LEADERSHIP IN THE AGE OF AI

A guide focusing on dealing ethically with artificial intelligence.

In her manual, Bühler points out that many kinds of AI have now infiltrated almost all aspects of business and society (“This is not a distant future scenario,” she writes, “but a present-day reality”). This infiltration obliges people in all walks of leadership to grapple with the intersection of AI and ethics. The author explores the underlying tenets of ethical leadership and then moves her narrative to the clash of ethics and AI, analyzing the peculiar challenges presented by new technology. The author proposes the concept of “the Ethic Pocketknife,” a “conceptual toolkit” that “tackles the ethical aspects of AI head-on.” She compares the Ethic Pocketknife to a Swiss Army knife and explains the various components—Transparency Tweezers, Accountability Awl, Empathy Scissors, and so on. She starts with building an ethics-based corporate culture in general and then includes an ethical assessment of whichever AI systems the business employs or encounters. Her book’s chapters are short and filled with illustrations (by musestouch.me) and bullet points. She stresses the human element in the creation of AI, noting that “in the realm of AI ethics, bias detection tools play a crucial role in identifying and addressing potential discriminatory patterns within AI algorithms.” Bühler’s central conceit of the Ethic Pocketknife is admittedly ungainly (featuring “Sustainability Saw,” “Responsibility Screwdriver,” and other awkward terms). But her book’s strongest element is its underlying belief that before a company can have an ethical approach to AI, it must first have ethics. Many of the useful precepts she elaborates in these pages serve as a clearly worded call for rigorously maintained corporate culture. The fact that this call effectively applies to both apple sellers and Apple AI is a pleasant bonus.

A strong, morally grounded approach to grappling with AI.