Machine or Digital Ethics Washing represents a new form of greenwashing used to address widespread concerns about the harmful downsides of artificial intelligence (AI) like biases, discrimination, human rights and privacy violations, job losses, environmental impacts and power concentration.
Another Marketing Management Strategy
Like greenwashing it focuses on information disclosure decision and misleading actions. It is a deliberate strategy, advantageous for organizations while unfavourable for our society and environment in the hope for more trust and financial gain – another marketing management strategy.
The phenomena originated due to the developing activism from NGOs and the resulting media attention as well as the uncertain regulatory environment although regulatory pressure is existing.
The underlying goals of machine or digital ethics washing processes are instrumental corporate motives: obtain reputation, legitimacy, maintain power, control key resources like algorithms and data.
Misleading communication gesture accompanied with symbolic action and open or covered corporate political activities are the main practices to achieve the deception. Lobbying is much more widespread in machine washing than in greenwashing. The aim is to delay regulation or disprove its necessity.
It is a nonmarket strategy that focuses on changing the regulatory framework. In highly developed and regulated industries it is not possible to advance your business with market strategy focusing on products, innovation and acquisitions. Therefore the aim is to change the framework of the market.
Companies publish ethical guidelines or principals, create ethic boards, use ethical labels on AI, finance ethical AI research to counter the negative undertone of AI.
Left with an Illusion of Positive Change
But Artificial Intelligence cannot be trustworthy. Tech giants are working hard to assure us of their good intentions surrounding AI. But some of their public relations campaigns are creating the surface illusion of positive change without the verifiable reality. That is called Machine or Digital Ethics washing.
Schreiben Sie einen Kommentar