ICC and Saïd Business School announce collaboration to develop AI principles for the private sector

Over the years, policy and regulatory discussions concerning AI have focused on sector-specific or issue-specific issues without considering wider ethical, societal, or business implications. As part of this partnership, researchers from ICC’s Knowledge Solutions department and Saïd Business School will undergo an extensive review of existing AI principles to identify commonalities and differences between standards.

ICC and Saïd Business School will gather AI perspectives from businesses of all sizes, including multinational corporations, small- and medium- sized enterprises , and women- and minority-led businesses, to determine policy and regulatory gaps.

After considering these gaps, the team will work cooperatively to develop inclusive unified AI principles for the private sector that promote creative, dependable, and ethical applications of AI technology. The researchers will consider a range of factors including privacy, accountability, safety, bias, and the impact of AI deployment on inequality. These collective principles will empower businesses of all sizes to harness the benefits of AI and advance the safe, transparent, and responsible use of technology for all.

Andrew Stephen, Associate Dean of Research & L’Oréal Professor of Marketing, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford said: “There is a need for a unifying voice to create a policy environment at the international level to foster trust in and adoption of trustworthy and rights-based AI. To continue to fuel innovation and increase the societal and economic benefits of AI while mitigating harm, such policy environments must be flexible, human-centric, globally compatible and market-driven.”

These principles will address policy inconsistencies and regulatory gaps created by competing local, regional, and national standards. These principles will not only contribute to the lives and well-being of humans, but to the success of businesses too. By establishing a set of harmonised principles derived from case studies, policy frameworks and initiatives developed by the business community, ICC and Saïd Business School will make a meaningful contribution to ongoing policy discussions on the ethical use of AI.

Sophie Peresson, Director, ICC Innovation for All said: “ICC has the unique opportunity to convene businesses worldwide to provide a common private sector perspective to these discussions, gather input from those already active in this space and bring to the table those who have not yet been heard, especially from the Global South. This publication will gather these perspectives into a global, unified business position on AI principles.”

The AI principles will be published and made available to businesses for free on ICC’s e-commerce platform, ICC Knowledge 2 Go. ICC will work in partnership with its worldwide network of businesses and chambers of commerce to ensure widespread dissemination of the AI principles, including among global policy and regulatory bodies that are active in this space.