Major Telecom Companies Debate Responsibility for Ethical AI

LIVE FROM DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WORLD, COPENHAGEN: During the Digital Transformation World event held in Copenhagen, Vodafone UK and BT Group engaged in a debate about the implementation of ethical principles for AI within organizations. The two operator giants had different opinions regarding which parties should take responsibility for this task.

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Vodafone UK's Perspective

Scott Petty, CTO of Vodafone UK, explained that in their model, the technology leaders do not take a position on ethics. Their focus is solely on building the engineering, data ingestion, and tools to develop AI systems. Petty emphasized that decisions on ethical issues require input from the general counsel, executive assistants, and commercial teams to determine the company's position. Vodafone UK has also established an AI council to address ethical concerns.

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"You have big ethical issues that require your general counsel, your EA, and commercial needs to decide where you want to position the business. I don't think technology can do it because then we're marking our own homework."

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BT Group's Perspective

Harmeen Mehta, chief digital and innovation officer at BT, had a different viewpoint. She stated that at BT, the conversation about ethical AI is supported from the top and driven from all sides within the organization. Mehta believes that all facets of the company should be involved in this discussion, including the CEO, security team, legal teams, developers, and testers. She emphasized that given the significant business opportunities AI presents, accountability should rest with everyone within the organization.

"I think the ownership should sit with all and at the same time, our accountability as technology leaders should be to make sure we don't let anybody not think about it."

Debate and Future Planning

Petty countered Mehta's perspective by referring to past experiences with website development. He highlighted that when everyone was involved in creating websites, the lack of proper management led to the implementation of GDPR laws to address privacy failures. Petty argued that more thought and better planning are necessary to avoid similar situations with ethical AI. He stressed that technologists should proactively plan for the future, implementing guide rails and safety measures instead of waiting for regulators to intervene.