Triodos Bank’s position paper on ethical AI: Financial sector has responsibility to ensure AI emphasises human dignity
While Artificial Intelligence (AI) can optimise processes and reduce human errors, it also poses ethical and sustainability challenges. Businesses must use AI responsibly, with financial institutions playing a key role in guiding this development. Their influence allows them to set standards and incentives for responsible AI use in the companies they finance, as detailed in Triodos Bank’s position paper ‘Artificial Intelligence, Human Responsibility.’
Key take-aways
- Financial institutions have a crucial role to play in shaping the responsible development and use of AI technology.
- People should always be in control. AI systems must have human dignity at their core, and be humanity-centered, upholding fundamental rights and benefitting broader societal wellbeing.
- Triodos Bank strongly condemns the use of AI systems for lethal autonomous weapons, biometric identification in public spaces, biometric categorisation, social scoring and cognitive and behavioural manipulation.
AI has seen a rapid development in the past two years. The introduction of publicly available AI tools like ChatGPT has unlocked the powerful capabilities of this technology for a broad audience. Looking at the business world, there is virtually no company that doesn’t make use of artificial intelligence in some way.
While AI offers a great potential in optimising processes and reducing the chance of human errors, there are also some considerable drawbacks, for instance regarding business ethics and sustainability. It is therefore imperative that businesses that make use of AI do so in a responsible way. Financial institutions have a crucial role to play in shaping the responsible development and use of AI technology. Because of their enabling role in the economy, they have a responsibility to understand the power of AI technology and the implications for individuals and for humanity as a whole. As money intermediaries, they can set expectations and incentives for companies they finance and invest in. This is an important conclusion of Triodos Bank’s position paper ‘Artificial Intelligence, Human Responsibility’.
Human diginity at the core
Triodos Bank believes AI systems must have human dignity at their core, and be humanity-centered, upholding fundamental rights and benefitting broader societal wellbeing. People should always be in control; any decision on ethical issues that could affect the rights and dignity of groups and individuals should never be fully outsourced to machines.
As a mission driven organisation, Triodos Bank puts emphasis on its role to ensure that money is used consciously. It has developed its own views and high-level expectations for the businesses it finances and companies it invests in. These expectations aim to ensure commitment to responsible AI and good practices in AI development and use.
Screening companies
Triodos Bank recognises the many positive applications of AI, yet also the negative ones. We strongly condemn the use of AI systems for lethal autonomous weapons, biometric identification in public spaces, biometric categorisation, social scoring and cognitive and behavioural manipulation. We’re committed to exclude companies that engage in such activities, in line with our existing minimum standards.
We believe that all financial institutions need to screen companies for good practices or engage with them to raise their standards. They should demand that companies demonstrate awareness regarding the risks and impacts of AI technology on human rights and business ethics. They should also demand companies to refrain from harmful activities, such as contributing to the dissemination of lethal autonomous weapons or facilitating state surveillance.
Responsibility of financial institutions
As corporate citizens, financial institutions have a broader responsibility to society. They can use their voice in the public arena and towards institutions to advocate for responsible practices in AI technology. They should also live up to the same standards they require of their investees and financed businesses, and work to ensure proper governance around AI technology.
As a bank founded on ethical and sustainable principles, Triodos Bank is dedicated to responsible action, urging peers in the financial sector to ensure AI technology is advanced and deployed with a strong emphasis on human dignity. Financial entities wield significant influence and carry the responsibility to guide AI’s evolution to honor human rights and morality, thus playing a pivotal role in forging a sustainable and equitable society for everyone.