Only 55% of SG accountants believe leaders prioritise ethics in AI implementation

This is lower than 66% of global respondents who are prioritising ethics in AI implementation.

Ethics are amongst the key concerns in adopting aritificial intelligence in the workplace, with 74% of Singaporean accountancy and finance professionals polled by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACAA) and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) believing in its positive impact on the overall standard of living in society.

However, only 55%, believe that their leaders prioritise ethics as highly as profits in AI implementation, lower than the 66% of global respondents.

Amongst these Singpaporean professionals, 45% said they have a basic understanding of what an algorithm is, whilst 30% said their organisation has implemented an ethical framework for AI use.

Meanwhile 64% said their organisation is effective in managing data quality.

ACCA presented several recommendations in AI adoption, including prioritising an approach consistent with organisational values, considering the impact of AI on under-represented groups, and transparency.

“AI adoption must consider the needs of all, especially the under-represented and vulnerable in society. That’s why one of our recommendations is to ensure the profession exercises its professional judgement, because AI may create previously unseen situations. We recommend that professional accountants need to avoid over-reliance on simplistic checklist-based approaches which don’t give the full picture or leave space for unintended consequences,” said ACCA chief executive Helen Brand.

The survey had a respondent pool of 5,700 finance and accounting professionals, including panelists from Singapore.