IU Incubator AI Ethics

Machine-learning algorithms, such as the well-known language model ChatGPT, optimize their performance through individual learning processes and have already experienced a wide range of applications in our societies.

Recent research has shown the rising interest of applying this type of technology to compliance processes, e.g., to support risk assessments, automatic profiling of new regulations or recognizing and reporting security breaches. Others have proposed models assessing corporate governance using machine learning techniques for stakeholder management and ESG purposes.

At the same time, the implications of humans interacting with machine-learning algorithms in compliance systems, including the role of ethical considerations in this regard, is mostly unexplored.

The project’s overall aim is to use economic experiments to provide insights into how the application of machine-learning in compliance systems affects the behavior of the involved parties. The results will be used to contribute to a framework for the design of machine-learning algorithms in compliance systems and their ethical application therein.

The economic experiments, due to their interdisciplinary character, aim to fill existing gaps in the literature of various areas such as management and organizational design, behavioral economics and human-computer interaction. Overall, the proposed research aims at  improving policies and organizational considerations regarding the use of artificial intelligence in economic life.