A Human-Centered Approach to Artificial Intelligence (AI) Ethics

Since ChatGPT broke into the public domain, AI has been a huge disruptor in the world we know today, arguably changing the way people work forever. But with great power comes great responsibility.

That’s why at OpenFn, we think it’s critical to consider the ethics of how and when we use AI. Our carefully thought-out AI policy outlines our core principles, ensuring AI is used to benefit, not harm our clients and their causes.

Putting Humans in Control with Accountability and Transparency

We strongly believe that AI should be used responsibly and ethically, which is why two core pillars of our policy address human accountability and transparency.

AI is a powerful tool, but it is ultimately humans that need to be held accountable for its outputs. As technology, it has no stake in the outputs it delivers, so it must be the humans behind those outputs that are on the line. It’s not always clear where human judgment ends and AI’s decision-making begins, but awareness of the complexities of accountability in this area helps us preserve human dignity and values while still using AI in our daily lives.

Along with holding humans accountable, we also believe in transparency of AI usage and acknowledging the contributions it has made to our work, just as we would acknowledge a human contributor. This means that at OpenFn, we are transparent about our usage of AI within our platform and how it contributes to our solutions.

The Human Touch in AI: Maintaining Humanity & Skepticism

While we believe that AI can be used to improve the world, we must remember that it is a tool created by humanity to assist humanity. As AI models are often trained on datasets, which can be subjective, biased and sourced in bad faith, it’s crucial to approach AI outputs with a healthy dose of skepticism.

We view AI as a tool to enhance human capabilities, not replace them. It should complement human ingenuity, creativity, and dignity. We also maintain a healthy skepticism towards AI. We understand that AI is still under development and that its outputs may not always be perfect. Therefore, we encourage critical thinking and human oversight to ensure that AI is used responsibly and ethically. By maintaining a balanced approach, we can harness the benefits of AI while minimizing its potential drawbacks.

Build-Time AI as an Ethical Implementation

OpenFn is developing a range of AI-based services to help our users build better, safer workflows, faster. From an integrated AI assistant to intelligent micro-services designed to solve common integration problems - the mission is to empower small teams and vastly improve their efficiency.

What unites our tooling, and what makes it safe, is that it targets build-time solutions. That means our AI helps humans to build automated workflows and gives them full executive control. We do not use AI as a real-time decision maker, letting it run wild and unsupervised.

Simply put, we want AI to improve the engine - not to drive the car

Building a Better Future Enhanced by Ethical AI

OpenFn is committed to using AI ethically and responsibly to improve our operations and services. Our AI policy outlines our core principles of accountability, transparency, humanity, and skepticism. By adhering to these principles, we ensure that AI is used to benefit, not harm, our organization and our clients.

Our build-time AI approach further strengthens our commitment to ethical AI. By planning, testing, and validating workflows before deployment, we minimize risks and ensure that AI is used in a controlled and responsible manner. By prioritizing accountability, transparency, humanity, and skepticism, we are able to harness the power of AI to improve our efficiency, effectiveness, and ethical practices. OpenFn is dedicated to using AI as a tool to enhance our operations, promote equity, and improve our services. manner.

By prioritizing accountability, transparency, humanity, and skepticism, we are able to harness the power of AI to improve our efficiency, effectiveness, and ethical practices. OpenFn is dedicated to using AI as a tool to enhance our operations, promote equity, and improve our services.

Ready to learn more? Explore our AI policy in detail here.

Disclosure: This article was developed with the assistance of AI to improve organization and content development.