AI Ethics: How to Ensure Your Organization Is Using AI Responsibly

AI ethics refers to the principles and practices that guide the development and use of artificial intelligence in a way that is responsible, fair, and aligned with societal values. As AI technologies rapidly expand across industries and cultures, their potential seems limitless — spanning from conversational chatbots and language translation to generative music and images. However, this immense potential brings an equally immense responsibility to ensure AI ethics are prioritized, safeguarding against harm and bias while promoting trust and equity.

At Skillsoft, we’re embracing the transformative power of AI, particularly in the realm of skilling and training. By incorporating AI into our Skillsoft Percipio platform, we continually innovate, experiment, and learn, ensuring we’re at the forefront of delivering impactful, AI-driven learning experiences.

Yet, even as we champion these advancements, we remain steadfast in our commitment to AI ethics. This commitment extends to training our employees and community, empowering them to approach AI with responsibility and fairness. After all, true innovation thrives when guided by ethical principles that prioritize justice and accountability. 

Determining the ethics of AI is a complex process that involves collaboration among multiple stakeholders, including policymakers, technologiests, ethicists, and organizational leaders. While global and industry-specific guidelines are beginning to emerge, the responsibility often lies with individual organizations to define and adhere to their own AI ethics frameworks. 

These frameworks must ensure fairness, transparency, accountability, and the safeguarding of human values. The goal is not only to mitigate risks such as bias and misuse, but also to foster trust among users and stakeholders.

At Skillsoft, AI ethics is central to how we innovate with AI technologies. We leverage AI to enhance our platform and the experience of users accessing Skillsoft content through learning management system (LMS) integrations. For example, AI improves search and discovery, making it easier for learners to find the resources they need. It connects skills, roles, and learning paths to guide career growth, and it generates new content and curation that helps learners assess their skills while building confidence and understanding. These advancements aim to empower individuals and organizations to thrive in a dynamic world. 

However, innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We intentionally keep AI ethics at the forefront of our processes, providing our teams with the necessary guardrails to innovate responsibly. Our approach aligns with our mission, vision, and corporate values, ensuring that our AI-driven solutions not only push boundaries but also reflect our commitment to ethical and just practices. This deliberate focus helps us maintain trust and transparency while continuing to explore the transformative potential of AI in learning and development.

The intersection of AI and ethics presents significant challenges that organizations must address to ensure these technologies are developed and used responsibly. These challenges include issues of bias, privacy, and environmental impact— all of which are central to the broader discussion of AI ethics and its implications for society.

Bias and Fairness in AI Ethics

Bias is one of the most pressing challenges in AI ethics. AI systems, including generative AI tools, often inherit biases present in the data they are trained on. These biases can perpetuate stereotypes and lead to unfair outcomes, particularly for historically marginalized or vulnerable populations. The harm caused by biased AI is particularly troubling because it can go unnoticed without deliberate monitoring. For instance, in compliance training, bias can undermine fairness by producing outputs that fail to reflect societal or legal norms around equality of opportunity.

To address this, organizations must implement strong governance practices aligned with AI ethics principles. This includes creating clear policies for AI fairness, accountability, and transparency, regularly auditing models for bias, and reviewing AI systems periodically to ensure fairness, particularly with respect to sensitive attributes like race and gender. Diverse data collection, ongoing monitoring, and rigorous vetting processes for vendors are essential components of an AI ethics framework that promotes fairness and equality.

Privacy Challenges in AI Ethics

AI ethics also encompasses the critical issue of privacy. AI systems often rely on vast amounts of data to function effectively, which can inadvertently lead to breaches of personal privacy. Without robust safeguards, AI technologies could expose sensitive information, misuse data, or make decisions that infringe on individuals’ rights.

To uphold AI ethics, organizations must prioritize privacy by adopting strict data protection policies, ensuring transparency about how data is used, and empowering users with control over their information. Ethical AI systems should incorporate privacy principles from the outset, embedding safeguards such as data minimization and secure processing to protect users’ rights.

Environmental Impact and AI Ethics

The environmental impact of AI is another critical dimension of AI ethics. Training large AI models, particularly generative AI, demands significant computational resources, contributing to carbon emissions and energy consumption. As AI adoption accelerates, its environmental footprint becomes a growing ethical concern.

Organizations can address this challenge by integrating sustainable practices into their AI strategies. This includes using energy-efficient technologies, leveraging renewable energy sources for data centers, and regularly evaluating the environmental sustainability of AI operations. Ensuring that AI development aligns with environmental values is an essential part of AI ethics, helping balance technological progress with ecological responsibility.

Skillsoft’s compliance training solution now offers content related to using AI ethically within your organization. And we’ve compiled some key takeaways for you to take into account when integrating AI into your corporate strategy.

A critical piece of implementing ethical and successful compliance training initiatives is staying updated on ethical guidelines, standards, and best practices in the field. Over the past several years, there’s been an increase in legislative actions around the globe that are working to protect the privacy of individuals’ data. This has, in turn, created some complexity for companies as they strive to stay up-to-date on the newest guidelines so they can properly comply with the regulations.

That’s why it’s important to ensure that your organization’s data collection, usage practices, and training protocols are aligned with local and global privacy laws and regulations such as The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and The General Personal Data Protection Law (LGPD). Not to mention the importance of following emerging laws and regulations that may be applicable such as the first EU regulatory framework for AI or The Blueprint for the AI Bill of Rights in the United States.

Even though some of these regulations might not originate from your country of origin, if you do business in any affected locations, you are responsible for adhering to all applicable guidelines. In the absence of formal AI law or regulations, these set of laws still work to impact the business implementation of AI.

Be transparent with your employees, vendors, customers, and other stakeholders about how.

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As generative AI becomes increasingly embedded in business operations, the need for responsible use has never been more pressing. Organizations must prioritize AI ethics to ensure this powerful technology is leveraged in a way that aligns with societal values, fosters trust, and mitigates risks. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is by offering and participating in AI ethics training courses, which are essential for cultivating a culture of responsibility and compliance.

The Role of AI Ethics Training

Skillsoft and other organizations recognize the critical importance of educating teams on AI ethics. Skillsoft offers courses designed to help employees understand the complexities of generative AI, navigate user safety and privacy legislation, and adopt best practices for ethical AI use. These courses are not just theoretical; they empower learners with actionable insights to foster a culture of responsibility and accountability.

Staying up-to-date with AI ethics training is essential, as the regulatory landscape and societal expectations around AI continue to evolve. By educating employees about these shifts and encouraging open dialogue, organizations can help change the culture around AI, making AI ethics an integral part of their AI initiatives. This proactive approach not only ensures compliance with emerging laws but also positions companies as leaders in ethical innovation.

Skillsoft’s Commitment to AI Ethics

At Skillsoft, we practice what we teach. AI is embedded into our platform to enhance learning experiences in meaningful ways. For instance, we use AI to improve search and discovery, connect skills with roles to guide career paths, and generate curated learning paths for trending topics. While these advancements drive innovation, they are always guided by AI ethics principles to ensure fairness, transparency, and user trust.

Skillsoft’s use of AI is accompanied by a steadfast commitment to training its team and community in the ethical use of this technology. By fostering a learning mindset around AI ethics, we ensure that every innovation aligns with our corporate values and mission to empower learners responsibly.

The Broader Impact of AI Ethics

Organizations that prioritize AI ethics training contribute to the responsible and beneficial use of generative AI across industries. This commitment builds trust with stakeholders, mitigates risks associated with AI misuse, and ensures compliance training is both effective and ethical. As generative AI continues to evolve, staying informed and fostering a culture of ethical AI use will not only protect your organization but also shape the future of responsible AI adoption.

Investing in AI ethics training is not just about compliance—it’s about building a better, more equitable future where technology serves humanity responsibly and sustainably.

To learn more about how to ethically and effectively implement AI-driven compliance training into your organization, check out our other resources at www.skillsoft.com/compliance and start making a difference today.