{"title":"The age of AI in healthcare research: An analysis of projects submitted between 2020 and 2024 to the Estonian committee on Bioethics and Human Research","authors":"Aive Pevkur , Kadi Lubi","doi":"10.1016/j.jrt.2025.100113","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrt.2025.100113","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The ethical evaluation of healthcare research projects ensures the protection of the study participants’ rights. Concurrently, the use of big health data and AI analysis is rising. A critical question is whether existing measures, including ethics committees, can competently evaluate AI-involved health projects and foresee risks. Our research aimed to identify and describe the types of research projects submitted between January 2020 and April 2024 to the Estonian Council for Bioethics and Human Research (EBIN) and to analyse AI use cases in recent years. Notably, the committee was established before the significant rise in AI usage in health research. We conducted a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of submission documents using deductive and inductive approaches to gather information on the types of studies using AI and make some preliminary conclusions on readiness to evaluate projects. Results indicate that most applications come from universities, use diverse data sources in the research and the use of AI is rather uniform, and the applications do not exhibit diversity in the utilisation of AI capabilities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":73937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of responsible technology","volume":"21 ","pages":"Article 100113"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143386488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The heuristics gap in AI ethics: Impact on green AI policies and beyond","authors":"Guglielmo Tamburrini","doi":"10.1016/j.jrt.2024.100104","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrt.2024.100104","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article analyses the negative impact of heuristic biases on the main goals of AI ethics. These biases are found to hinder the identification of ethical issues in AI, the development of related ethical policies, and their application. This pervasive impact has been mostly neglected, giving rise to what is called here the heuristics gap in AI ethics. This heuristics gap is illustrated using the AI carbon footprint problem as an exemplary case. Psychological work on biases hampering climate warming mitigation actions is specialized to this problem, and novel extensions are proposed by considering heuristic mentalization strategies that one uses to design and interact with AI systems. To mitigate the effects of this heuristics gap, interventions on the design of ethical policies and suitable incentives for AI stakeholders are suggested. Finally, a checklist of questions helping one to investigate systematically this heuristics gap throughout the AI ethics pipeline is provided.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":73937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of responsible technology","volume":"21 ","pages":"Article 100104"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143156600","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anu Masso , Jevgenia Gerassimenko , Tayfun Kasapoglu , Mai Beilmann
{"title":"Research ethics committees as knowledge gatekeepers: The impact of emerging technologies on social science research","authors":"Anu Masso , Jevgenia Gerassimenko , Tayfun Kasapoglu , Mai Beilmann","doi":"10.1016/j.jrt.2025.100112","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrt.2025.100112","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article investigates the evolution of research ethics within the social sciences, emphasising the shift from procedural norms borrowed from medical and natural sciences to social scientific discipline-specific and method-based principles. This transformation acknowledges the unique challenges and opportunities in social science research, particularly in the context of emerging data technologies such as digital data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence. Our empirical analysis, based on a survey conducted among international social scientists (N = 214), highlights the precariousness researchers face regarding these technological shifts. Traditional methods remain prevalent, despite the recognition of new digital methodologies that necessitate new ethical principles. We discuss the role of ethics committees as influential gatekeepers, examining power dynamics and access to knowledge within the research landscape. The findings underscore the need for tailored ethical guidelines that accommodate diverse methodological approaches, advocate for interdisciplinary dialogue, and address inequalities in knowledge production. This article contributes to the broader understanding of evolving research ethics in an increasingly data-driven world.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":73937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of responsible technology","volume":"21 ","pages":"Article 100112"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143480003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring ethical frontiers of artificial intelligence in marketing","authors":"Harinder Hari , Arun Sharma , Sanjeev Verma , Rijul Chaturvedi","doi":"10.1016/j.jrt.2024.100103","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrt.2024.100103","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The pervasiveness of artificial intelligence (AI) in consumers' lives is proliferating. For firms, AI offers the potential to connect, serve, and satisfy consumers with posthuman abilities. However, the adoption and usage of this technology face barriers, with ethical concerns emerging as one of the most significant. Yet, much remains unknown about the ethical concerns. Accordingly, to fill the gap, the current study undertakes a comprehensive and systematic review of 445 publications on AI and marketing ethics, utilizing Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature review protocol to conduct performance analysis (quantitative and qualitative) and science mapping (conceptual and intellectual structures) for literature review and the identification of future research directions. Furthermore, the study conducts thematic and content analysis to uncover the themes, clusters, and theories operating in the field, leading to a conceptual framework that lists antecedents, mediators, moderators, and outcomes of ethics in AI in marketing. The findings of the study present future research directions, providing guidance for practitioners and scholars in the area of ethics in AI in marketing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":73937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of responsible technology","volume":"21 ","pages":"Article 100103"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143156599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Decentralized governance in action: A governance framework of digital responsibility in startups","authors":"Yangyang Zhao , Jiajun Qiu","doi":"10.1016/j.jrt.2025.100107","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrt.2025.100107","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rise of digital technologies has fueled the emergence of decentralized governance among startups. However, this trend imposes new challenges in digitally responsible governance, such as technology usage, business accountability, and many other issues, particularly in the absence of clear guidelines. This paper explores two types of digital startups with decentralized governance: digitally transformed (e.g., DAO) and IT-enabled decentralized startups. We adapt the previously described Corporate Digital Responsibility model into a streamlined seven-cluster governance framework that is more directly applicable to these novel organizations. Through a case study, we illustrate the practical value of the conceptual framework and find key points vital for digitally responsible governance by decentralized startups. Our findings lay a conceptual and empirical groundwork for in-depth and cross-disciplinary future inquiries into digital responsibility issues in decentralized settings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":73937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of responsible technology","volume":"21 ","pages":"Article 100107"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143157256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Toward an anthropology of screens. Showing and hiding, exposing and protecting. Mauro Carbone and Graziano Lingua. Translated by Sarah De Sanctis. 2023. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan","authors":"Paul Trauttmansdorff","doi":"10.1016/j.jrt.2025.100111","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrt.2025.100111","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Toward an Anthropology of Screens by Mauro Carbone and Graziano Lingua is an insightful book about the cultural and philosophical significance of screens, which highlights their role in mediating human interactions, reshaping relationships with people and artefacts, and raising ethical questions about their pervasive influence in contemporary life.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":73937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of responsible technology","volume":"21 ","pages":"Article 100111"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143437469","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Process industry disrupted: AI and the need for human orchestration","authors":"M.W. Vegter , V. Blok , R. Wesselink","doi":"10.1016/j.jrt.2025.100105","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrt.2025.100105","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>According to EU policy makers, the introduction of AI within Process Industry will help big manufacturing companies to become more sustainable. At the same time, concerns arise about future work in these industries. As the EU also wants to actively pursue <em>human-centered</em> AI, this raises the question how to implement AI within Process Industry in a way that is sustainable and takes views and interests of workers in this sector into account. To provide an answer, we conducted ‘ethics parallel research’ which involves empirical research. We conducted an ethnographic study of AI development within process industry and specifically looked into the innovation process in two manufacturing plants. We showed subtle but important differences that come with the respective job related duties. While engineers continuously alter the plant as being a technical system; operators hold a rather symbiotic relationship with the production process on site. Building on the framework of different mechanisms of techno-moral change we highlight three ways in which workers might be morally impacted by AI. 1. Decisional - alongside the developmental of data analytic tools respective roles and duties are being decided; 2. Relational - Data analytic tools might exacerbate a power imbalance where engineers may re-script the work of operators; 3. Perceptual - Data analytic technologies mediate perceptions thus changing the relationship operators have to the production process. While in Industry 4.0 the problem is framed in terms of ‘suboptimal use’, in Industry 5.0 the problem should be thought of as ‘suboptimal development’.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":73937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of responsible technology","volume":"21 ","pages":"Article 100105"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143348791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mark Ryan , Eugen Popa , Vincent Blok , Andrea Declich , Maresa Berliri , Alfonso Alfonsi , Simeon Veloudis , Natalia Costanzo , Martina Iannuzzi
{"title":"Start doing the right thing: Indicators for socially responsible start-ups and investors","authors":"Mark Ryan , Eugen Popa , Vincent Blok , Andrea Declich , Maresa Berliri , Alfonso Alfonsi , Simeon Veloudis , Natalia Costanzo , Martina Iannuzzi","doi":"10.1016/j.jrt.2024.100094","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrt.2024.100094","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper explores the gap in the literature on social responsibility guidance for start-ups and start-up investors. It begins by evaluating research conducted in two different fields (namely, socially responsible investment (SRI) and responsible research and innovation (RRI)) and how they can guide social responsibility in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) start-ups. To do this, we evaluate an industry-standard SRI catalogue of metrics - the Global Impact Investing Network's (GIIN) <em>Impact Reporting and Investment Standards</em> (IRIS+) - and indicators from 12 EC-funded RRI projects. Based on this analysis, we propose a framework of 24 indicators to assess the social responsibility of start-ups and investors. The purpose of our framework is twofold: firstly, to provide clear guidance for start-ups aiming to implement socially responsible behaviours, and secondly, to provide start-up investors with criteria to identify if start-ups are socially responsible. While the indicators are phrased in a prescriptive way for start-ups, they can also be used by investors to identify if start-ups are implementing the indicators in practice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":73937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of responsible technology","volume":"20 ","pages":"Article 100094"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142420397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Javier Guerrero-C , Nomtika Mjwana , Sebastian Leon-Giraldo , Sara L.M. Davis
{"title":"Brave global spaces: Researching digital health and human rights through transnational participatory action research","authors":"Javier Guerrero-C , Nomtika Mjwana , Sebastian Leon-Giraldo , Sara L.M. Davis","doi":"10.1016/j.jrt.2024.100097","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrt.2024.100097","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this paper we reflect on our experience with applying Transnational Participatory Action Research (TPAR) to a multi-country study of digital health and human rights of young adults living with and affected by HIV in five low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and identify some lessons learned for future projects. First, we propose a definition of TPAR based on our experience and our analysis of power in the project. We present an overview of the research design and implementation, which melded diverse working cultures and research methods. Next, we describe how we adapted outputs, working methods and terminology to meet the diverse and specific needs of civil society organizations, community-led networks and academics working in diverse national and transnational spaces. This required us to understand and adapt to the different temporalities at play. The creation of brave spaces and the development of an intersectional lens were key to addressing tensions that naturally emerged in our collaboration. Finally, we summarize lessons learns and challenges for the next stage of the project.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":73937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of responsible technology","volume":"20 ","pages":"Article 100097"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142663599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards a critical recovery of liberatory PAR for food system transformations: Struggles and strategies in collaborating with radical and progressive food movements in EU-funded R&I projects","authors":"Tobia S. Jones, Anne M.C. Loeber","doi":"10.1016/j.jrt.2024.100100","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jrt.2024.100100","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>From sustainability and justice perspectives, food systems and R&I systems need transformation. Participatory action research (PAR) presents a suitable approach as it enables collaboration between those affected by a social issue and researchers based in universities to co-create knowledge and interventionist actions. However, PAR is often misconstrued even within projects calling for civil society actors to act as full partners in research. To avoid reproducing the very structures and practices in need of transformation, this paper argues for university researchers to team up with members of food movements to engage in ‘liberatory’ forms of PAR. The question is how liberatory PAR's guiding concepts of reciprocal participation, critical recovery and systemic devolution can be enacted in projects that did not start out as PAR projects. Two EU-funded projects on food system transformation serve as a basis to answer this question, generating concrete recommendations for establishing co-creative, mutually liberating, and transdisciplinary research collectives.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":73937,"journal":{"name":"Journal of responsible technology","volume":"20 ","pages":"Article 100100"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142721046","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}