SAP’s Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence: A Year of Learning
Ethical AI at SAP
At SAP, the Intelligent Enterprise strategy means that there are different ways the company builds and sells AI.
On one hand, there is AI that is directly embedded in SAP products, such as SAP Cash Application software, which helps automate invoice reconciliation in the SAP S/4HANA Finance solution. For such use cases, SAP is working to implement procedures to better understand the intent of a use case and to help ensure that the concept complies with ethical guidelines.
On the other hand, when it comes to AI platforms, like the SAP Data Intelligence cloud service, an SAP customer can use the technology to build any AI use case. According to Noga, that means one must critically question some ideas and find a way to lead innovation toward ethical use cases. This is why SAP is exploring how to provide guidelines or even terms and conditions to customers in order to guide the ethically appropriate use of the AI platform.
“Out of consideration for the customers and colleagues involved, it is difficult to talk about concrete use cases,” Noga shares. “But I can say that cases have been sent to us on a wide range of issues — from facial recognition to government use of AI to cases of negative environmental impact.”
Which is why guidelines are so important: “We need to reconcile customer needs with the real possibility that SAP might be asked to do something against its policies.”