Seventeenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

What role should artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies play in corporate boardrooms? The question seems especially pressing considering the increasing prevalence of AI throughout a variety of industries in a host of key functions. It should come as little surprise, however, that with the advent of a powerful new technology, important concerns arise regarding the limits on its use and the ends to which it should be directed. Ethicists warn about AI’s lack of moral sensitivity, empathy, and appreciation for human rights. Most certainly, many ethical questions exist, but if AI remains inevitable, the task of identifying the proper parameters within which to use AI remains of utmost importance. This study examines some knotty philosophical and practical questions surrounding AI. In particular, it explores how the law and philosophy of the most basic fiduciary duties of trust (that directors owe to the corporation and its shareholders) might guide the use of AI on corporate boards. To that end, the paper investigates how the proper use of AI might: (1) enhance the quality of corporate discourse among the corporation and its constituencies; (2) validate a consideration of morality in business decisions, giving fresh hope to sustaining the burgeoning market for corporate social responsibility; and (3) require corporate directors to embrace a more pluralistic and inclusive approach to corporate decision making. The study concludes that although AI might not supplant human beings on corporate boards, AI technologies could very well help make decisions by corporate managers more humane.