{"id":69307,"date":"2023-12-14T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=69307"},"modified":"2023-12-14T13:46:41","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T13:46:41","slug":"advancing-tech-ethics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/uk\/news\/stories\/advancing-tech-ethics\/","title":{"rendered":"How Five Years of Tech Ethics Will Inform the Era of AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The explosion of generative AI<\/a> has captivated individuals and businesses, and is already transforming the way we live and work \u2014 including here at Salesforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, the possibilities and perils of generative AI have brought ethics into the limelight in exciting and unsettling ways. From killer robots to bias to hallucinations, we\u2019re seeing topics once considered wonky and technical become part of mainstream discussion around AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I don\u2019t necessarily subscribe to all the hype \u2014 or hysteria \u2014 a<\/a>round AI<\/a>, I do believe in AI\u2019s transformative potential and I\u2019m encouraged to see Trust become as central to the AI conversation as the technology itself. And I feel heartened that more and more of us think about the ethical implications of today\u2019s most exciting innovations, and take steps today to ensure safe, trustworthy AI tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I feel heartened that more and more of us think about the ethical implications of today\u2019s most exciting innovations, and take steps today to ensure safe, trustworthy AI tomorrow.<\/p>\nPaula Goldman, Chief ethical and humane use offer<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As we come up on the five-year anniversary of Salesforce\u2019s Office of Ethical and Humane Use<\/a>, I\u2019m proud of the way our team has pioneered what responsible technology looks like in the enterprise \u2014 and that we\u2019re doing it again for the era of AI. Here\u2019s a look back at our Office\u2019s first five years and what we\u2019re focused on next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Operationalizing ethical technology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Five years ago, tech ethics was definitely not mainstream. It didn\u2019t even have a seat at the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questions and controversies were beginning to emerge around companies\u2019 use of technology. But as an industry, we had no established mechanism or discourse to deal with them. Our Chair and CEO, Marc Benioff, saw this gap emerging and knew we needed to act to continue building trust with our customers and communities. In August 2018, he announced Salesforce\u2019s Office of Ethical and Humane Use and hired me to create a framework for ethical use of technology across the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our office was the first of its kind for the enterprise, so there was no roadmap. But to be successful, we knew we had to lead with transparency and trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We first set a goal to define what \u201cgood\u201d looks like for trusted tech in the enterprise. My team began by building an infrastructure for the responsible development and deployment of our technologies. We developed guidelines like our Trusted AI Principles<\/a> to help our product teams understand and mitigate the risks of AI. And we stood up policies and processes to guide this work throughout the business, including new guardrails in our Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and an Ethical Use Advisory Council to help us understand and examine ethical complexities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n