Research

WU researcher develops AI and ethics certification

05/07/2024

Austrian Standards has launched a new personal certification for AI and ethics ambassadors. It was developed by Sarah Spiekermann-Hoff.

The use of artificial intelligence offers unheard-of opportunities, but it also entails ethical risks. This makes it all the more important to put in place a clear framework and reliable standards that companies can use as guidelines for acting responsibly when working with generative AI and digital data.

Spiekermann

Sarah Spiekermann-Hoff

Austrian Standards, the Austrian national standardization body, has been the first standardization organization in Europe to take up this topic – and now it offers a certification for people who have the skills to guide AI projects in the spirit of digital humanism, to provide them with an objective proof of their qualifications.


The underlying standard, ISO/IEC/IEEE 24748-7000, was developed under the leadership of Sarah Spiekermann-Hoff, professor at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, in the period from 2016 to 2021. It was launched as the first-ever standard for ethical system design. The aim was to help integrate digital technologies into society in a way that is socially responsible and sustainable. Professor Spiekermann-Hoff also provided advisory support and contributed her scientific expertise during the development of the new personal certification.


People with the necessary prior knowledge and skills can now obtain the certification “P90 Value-Based Engineering Ambassador for Ethical IS & AI based on ISO/IEC/IEEE 24748-7000.” Austrian Standards also offers further training opportunities in this area: The personal certification course “Certified Value-Based Engineering Ambassador” not only teaches the new standard in preparation for the certification exam, but it also provides course participants with a general introduction to the different uses of generative AI.

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