Data science company Profusion has launched the UK’s first data ethics board to incorporate leaders from HR, academia, law, data science and cybersecurity.
The Data Ethics Advisory Board will be to provide the wider tech industry with guidance on how to tackle complex ethical issues emerging within data science. This includes challenges around privacy, security and responsible use of AI tools. It is hoped that the decisions made by the Board will help to set moral standards which will inform businesses that use data science.
To ensure the Board provides a range of views, experts from a number of disciplines have joined, including: Camara (HR director, Co-op), Dr Hastilow (Head of digital manufacturing – civil aerospace, Rolls Royce) and Dodhia (Neuroscience undergraduate student, Cardiff University).
They join specialist legal board members to offer diversity of thought to this challenging topic.
Natalie Cramp, CEO of Profusion, states: “At Profusion we’re regularly dealing with data projects that are the first of their kind. There is no road map or set of standards we can look to to ensure that we’ve considered all the implications of our work. Whilst data science has amazing power for good, we recognise it can sometimes have unintended consequences. This is why we formed the Ethics Advisory Board. We believe that the wide range of views and experience will enable us to make the best decisions, and in time create a roadmap to support the wider data industry.”
Khyati Sundaram, CEO of Applied, says: “There are countless examples of how data misuse can lead to serious real world consequences. By bringing together voices from different industries and backgrounds we can examine and debate different aspects of these problems, providing guidance that may help to create industry-wide ethical standards.”
