BUSINESS & “INDUSTRY 4.0”
The role of accountants for ethical and sustainable artificial intelligence adoption
It is considered that artificial intelligence (AI) adoption will considerably amplify in the next decade and impact our lives in all three dimensions – environmental, social and governance. Therefore, deriving sustainable long-term value from AI mass implementation requires organisations to follow an ethical and responsible path. It is considered that accounting professionals will play a significant role in managing this process due to their commitment to ethics and ethical behaviour when performing the assigned tasks within the accounting and finance function. For instance, they might play an important part in complying with regulation and ethics policies, data management, including its quality and confidentiality, as data feeds AI, building understanding of how AI is used in the industry. Moreover, accountants could actively participate in cross-functional teams and efficiently communicate issues related to AI ethics and sustainability. In the light of the challenges from the mass adoption of AI, this paper aims at outlining the perspectives and opportunities towards the accountancy profession in the ethical and sustainable AI implementation in organisations