Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to be a prevalent force in our world, and its use continues to grow. Concerns for human rights related to AI have led investors including Mercy Investment Services to join the World Benchmarking Alliance in the multistakeholder Collective Impact Coalition (CIC) for Ethical Artificial Intelligence (AI). The coalition recently published a new investor statement as part of collaborative efforts to ensure companies are accountable for the impacts of AI use.
Although it can help improve the accuracy of medical diagnoses and broaden financial inclusion, the rapid development and use of AI can lead to invasion of privacy, increased bias and discrimination, and denial of individual rights and personal safety. Investors including Mercy Investment Services have collectively engaged 44 companies through the alliance’s Digital Inclusion Benchmark, encouraging them to adopt publicly available ethical AI principles. One-quarter of the 200 companies assessed have adopted principles, but investors believe all digital technology companies need to adopt, implement, and disclose robust governance policies and controls on AI. Learn more about the alliance and its work on AI.
Mercy Investment Services will continue to use the benchmark as it engages companies on how they are protecting human rights as part of their AI use and development.