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StMWK-funded project AIEP : Ethical issues in artificial intelligence in everyday work life

An interdisciplinary team at the University of Passau, led by Professor of Ethics Prof Dr Karoline Reinhardt, is developing a university certificate that will provide employees from the technical and engineering fields with further training on the ethical challenges of using AI.Companies from the Passau region are also involved.

AI is being used in more and more areas of professional life: In job applications it looks through CVs automatically, some companies use it as an organisational tool for everyday working life. However, this relatively new technology is presenting more and more companies with ethical challenges, for example in the area of data protection.

In the ‘AI Ethics In Practice’ (AIEP) project funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts (StMWK), a team from the University of Passau led by Professor Karoline Reinhardt, Chair of Applied Ethics, is researching the ethical problems that technicians in companies face when using AI in product development and technologies. Based on these results, the researchers are designing a training programme with a university certificate at the University of Passau.

The ethical challenges are many: AI learns from reality on the basis of data. Existing discrimination can be reinforced by the technology, for example when it sorts out people in application procedures based on their name or gender.

"There are also problems with the attribution of responsibility", says Dr Heiner Koch, research associate at the Chair of Applied Ethics and at AIEP. These arise, for example, in autonomous driving when AI products are used. In the event of an accident, the question arises as to who is responsible: is it "the person who uses the car, the person who produces the car or the person who developed the controlling AI?"

The questions of the sensible use of AI in companies and data protection also arise: "Where does the data come from that is used to train the AI, what data can it use without violating data protection?" are, according to Dr Koch, examples of some key points.

As part of the project, the research team is developing a training programme including a university certificate to answer these questions. The target group are technicians and engineers in companies in the Passau region. The aim of the training programme is to go beyond the mere teaching of content. It is also intended to give participants the opportunity to discuss their own experiences and practical problems within the group.

Prof. Dr Karoline Reinhardt and Dr Heiner Koch are joined at the University of Passau by Dr Alexandra Schick and members of the Careers and Competencies Unit for the development of structures in the area of academic continuing education. Dr Werner Gamerith (Vice-President for Transfer and Internal Networking) is responsible on the part of the university management. The chairs of AI Engineering (Prof. Dr Steffen Herbold), Psychology with a focus on Human-Machine Interaction (Prof. Dr Susanne Mayr), AI in Criminal Law (Prof. Dr Brian Valerius) and Catholic Theology (Prof. Dr Bernhard Bleyer) are also involved. The companies Knorr-Bremse, Micro Epsilon, Sumida AG, ZF Group, Motorenfabrik Hatz GmbH, Unternehmerforum Neuburger Gesprächskreis and TIBAY from the region are also taking part.

The project is funded by the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts (StMWK) in the period from 1 July 2024 to 31 June 2025 as part of the funding for the expansion of university certificates in the technical and engineering sciences to strengthen academic continuing education at Bavarian universities and universities of applied sciences (digital.ING II).

Principal Investigator(s) at the University	Prof. Dr. Karoline Reinhardt (Professur für Angewandte Ethik)
Project period	01.07.2024 - 30.06.2025
Source of funding	BayStMWK - Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst
Projektnummer	L.3-H2434.5.2.1/24/6