1. Introducing Responsible AI in Africa -- 2. Epistemic Just and Dynamic AI Ethics in Africa -- 3. Responsible AI in Africa - Challenges and Opportunities -- 4. Working with robots as colleagues: Kenyan perspectives of ethical concerns on possible integration of co-bots in workplaces -- 5. Artificial Intelligence in Africa: Emerging Challenges -- 6. The Use of Gendered Chatbots in Nigeria: Critical Perspectives -- 7. AI Policy as a Response to AI Ethics? Addressing ethical issues in the development of AI policies in North Africa -- 8. Towards Shaping the Future of Responsible AI in Africa.
This open access book contributes to the discourse of Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) from an African perspective. It is a unique collection that brings together prominent AI scholars to discuss AI ethics from theoretical and practical African perspectives and makes a case for African values, interests, expectations and principles to underpin the design, development and deployment (DDD) of AI in Africa. The book is a first in that it pays attention to the socio-cultural contexts of Responsible AI that is sensitive to African cultures and societies. It makes an important contribution to the global AI ethics discourse that often neglects AI narratives from Africa despite growing evidence of DDD in many domains. Nine original contributions provide useful insights to advance the understanding and implementation of Responsible AI in Africa, including discussions on epistemic injustice of global AI ethics, opportunities and challenges, an examination of AI co-bots and chatbots in an African work space, gender and AI, a consideration of African philosophies such as Ubuntu in the application of AI, African AI policy, and a look towards a future of Responsible AI in Africa. This is an open access book.
Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) on firm performance and the moderating role of corporate governance on the CSRD–firm performance relationship of listed companies in Nigeria.
Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a panel data set comprising 841 firm-year observations for the period covering 2007-2016. Fixed effect regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between CSRD and firm performance, and the moderating role of corporate governance in the CSRD–firm performance relationship.
Findings The results of the study show that there are positive performance implications for firms that engage in CSRD. Although this study finds no effect of board size on the CSRD–firm performance relationship, it provides a strong evidence of a positive effect of board independence on the CSR–firm performance relationship.
Practical implications The study contributes to the understanding of CSRD–firm performance relationship by providing evidence of the moderating role of corporate governance. It is, therefore, recommended that a stronger regulation be put in place for CSR engagement and the disclosure of same in Nigeria as well as robust measures for the enforcement of corporate governance mechanisms because there are economic benefits to be derived.
Originality/value The findings contribute to the literature by providing up-to-date and original insights on the CSRD–firm performance relationship within a developing country context. It also uses an uncommon method of measuring CSRD, taking into account the institutional biases that may arise from other methods used in studies on developed countries.
The increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to help facilitate neuroscience adds a new level of complexity to the question of how ethical issues of such research can be identified and addressed. Current research ethics practice, based on ethics reviews by institutional review boards (IRB) and underpinned by ethical principlism, has been widely criticized. In this article, we develop an alternative way of approaching ethics in neuro-ICT research, based on discourse ethics, which implements Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) through dialogues. We draw on our work in Ethics Support, using the Human Brain Project (HBP) as empirical evidence of the viability of this approach. ; Author Contributions: BS led the development of the ethics support work package and processes, wrote the first draft of the article and coordinated the contributions. SA worked on legal review and data protection and was part of the ethics check process. BF led the data governance and was involved in compliance management. MG led the ethics rapporteur programme and the PORE process. WK led the ethics compliance process. IU led the ethics awareness work. All authors worked closely together on the work described in the article. All have contributed to the text related to their area of expertise and contributed to the overall article, including through reviews and revision of earlier drafts. Funding: This project/research has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation under the Specific Grant Agreement No. 720270 (HBP SGA1); No. 785907 (Human Brain Project SGA2) and under the Framework Partnership Agreement No. 650003 (HBP FPA). ; Human Brain Project
The extensive disruption to and digital transformation of travel administration across borders largely due to COVID-19 mean that digital vaccine passports are being developed to resume international travel and kick-start the global economy. Currently, a wide range of actors are using a variety of different approaches and technologies to develop such a system. This paper considers the techno-ethical issues raised by the digital nature of vaccine passports and the application of leading-edge technologies such as blockchain in developing and deploying them. We briefly analyse four of the most advanced systems – IBM's Digital Health Passport "Common Pass," the International Air Transport Association's Travel Pass, the Linux Foundation Public Health's COVID-19 Credentials Initiative and the Vaccination Credential Initiative (Microsoft and Oracle) – and then consider the approach being taken for the EU Digital COVID Certificate. Each of these raises a range of issues, particularly relating to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the need for standards and due diligence in the application of innovative technologies (eg blockchain) that will directly challenge policymakers when attempting to regulate within the network of networks.
The interdisciplinary field of neurorobotics looks to neuroscience to overcome the limitations of modern robotics technology, to robotics to advance our understanding of the neural system's inner workings, and to information technology to develop tools that support those complementary endeavours. The development of these technologies is still at an early stage, which makes them an ideal candidate for proactive and anticipatory ethical reflection. This article explains the current state of neurorobotics development within the Human Brain Project, originating from a close collaboration between the scientific and technical experts who drive neurorobotics innovation, and the humanities and social sciences scholars who provide contextualising and reflective capabilities. This article discusses some of the ethical issues which can reasonably be expected. On this basis, the article explores possible gaps identified within this collaborative, ethical reflection that calls for attention to ensure that the development of neurorobotics is ethically sound and socially acceptable and desirable. ; European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Framework Programme 720270 785907 945539
Drawing on more than eight years working to implement Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in the Human Brain Project, a large EU-funded research project that brings together neuroscience, computing, social sciences, and the humanities, and one of the largest investments in RRI in one project, this article offers insights on RRI and explores its possible future. We focus on the question of how RRI can have long-lasting impact and persist beyond the time horizon of funded projects. For this purpose, we suggest the concept of 'responsibility by design' which is intended to encapsulate the idea of embedding RRI in research and innovation in a way that makes it part of the fabric of the resulting outcomes, in our case, a distributed European Research Infrastructure. ; European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation 720270 785907 945539 650003 ; Versión publicada - versión final del editor
