From ethics consulting to ethics communication

How does a vaccine manufacturer react if part of the workforce refuses to be vaccinated? What personal data can artificial intelligence evaluate and what not? Companies are increasingly having to face ethical questions. The US company Compass Ethics offers the right advice on these issues. PIO has been working with Compass Ethics since October 2022. In this interview, Dr. Benjamin Lange, Director and Lead DACH at Compass Ethics, explains the topics he deals with and the value of good communication.

Hello Ben, you have a doctorate in philosophy and work for Compass Ethics. At first, philosophy sounds like Kant, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. How can we imagine your work for Compass Ethics? 

Basically, we are a strategy consulting firm - with a focus on ethical issues. The situation is usually like this: laws provide important guidelines for what is permissible and impermissible, but they often leave many options open that may be better or worse for different people or from different perspectives. This is especially true for new technologies where the laws are underdeveloped, but also for many more traditional industry sectors and areas. As an ethics consulting firm, we help companies minimize ethical risks, manage ethical disagreements or disputes, and identify opportunities to do good in the world. 

What does this mean in practical terms?

These include damage risk minimization, decision model development, value management, inclusion, culture change and trustworthy AI-oriented innovations. These are often difficult, complex topics that have a major socio-cultural impact. An example: a company produces vaccines against the coronavirus, but some of its employees refuse to be vaccinated. How do they position themselves? Or the topic of hate speech and disinformation: where does freedom of speech begin and where does it end? These are questions that companies cannot answer so quickly. That's exactly where we come in.  

And what answers do you offer?

Among other things, we identify opportunities for ethical growth and ethical leadership and help to define a company's values in order to support it in overcoming ethical dilemmas. We have various methods of analysis depending on the issue and complexity of the project. What we then offer is an option framework for these questions. We show what options the company has and how these can be combined well with the values. So there is not one answer, but options that we discuss with the advantages and disadvantages. The issue of social disadvantage alone is highly complex: for example, if I, as a manufacturer of autonomous vehicles, set up charging stations in hotspots, this could cause frustration because I am highlighting needs that this target group may not be able to meet. If I exclude these districts, I am not allowing them to participate in technological progress. We have various scientifically sound evaluation methods and points of view and can show how the company could set up its charging stations, for example.

You work and live in Essen, Compass Ethics is based in the USA. How did you join the company and what exactly is your job?  

The founder Bradley [J. Strawser, editor's note] and I already knew each other from my research stays in the USA and had worked on joint projects. I had been involved since the company was founded in 2020. That's because of the way we work: At Compass Ethics, we work according to the principle that we have a permanent core team for client projects and a large network of freelance consultants. These are usually experts who have a teaching assignment at research institutions and are consulted for specific issues. I myself have a teaching position at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, work for Compass Ethics for clients in the USA and am building up the German business here.  

Your scientific focus includes questions relating to AI and ethics. As a philosopher, how do you assess statements by tech billionaire Elon Musk, for example, who says that AI poses “a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization”?  

Elon Musk is a person who polarizes and wants to polarize. I don't think such statements are very helpful because they reduce the complexity of the topic too much. If an AI is used for a process in the HR department to evaluate applications and pre-select qualified applicants, I don't see any risk for humanity. Such statements go in the direction of a general artificial intelligence that could be better than human intelligence. These would be existential risks that may arise in a hundred years' time. Of course, these exist on other levels, such as biochemical weapons. Existential risks are an issue with different time horizons, ranging from 2050 to 2100. Nevertheless, it is definitely important to raise such questions and establish values for the use of AI technologies in advance so that they can operate in accordance with these values and respect human values such as friendship or privacy. So: raising the issue is important, presenting it as a fait accompli is not very helpful. And the type of communication should also be carefully considered to ensure it is sustainable.

Artificial intelligence is now sometimes better at recognizing illnesses based on photos than a doctor. In your view, is there a danger that AI technologies will make human labor obsolete?

I would differentiate here. The question is: to what extent does an AI make human labor obsolete? As a philosopher, I can't judge that. My experience is that we often have a human-in-the-loop principle. A work process is then not completely automated, but the aspect of human interaction is retained. The human monitors and interacts with the AI. After all, it doesn't float freely in the room, but is there to optimize human decisions - for example, to find suitable candidates more quickly and efficiently in the application process. But life is like philosophy - there is rarely just black or white. The truth lies somewhere in between. But it is precisely to weigh up such risks that philosophy or consulting services such as those offered by Compass Ethics are needed: ethics must lay the foundation so that these negative effects do not arise in the first place. And it takes communication expertise to understand what you want to communicate and when.

For professional communication in Germany, you decided to rely on the expertise of PIO. How did this collaboration come about? 

This came about through direct contact and was a sensible partnership from our point of view. We are two companies that complement each other very well. With our ethical advice, we create the good substance, the basis for further communication. We show what is good and sensible from an ethical point of view. But good substance needs good communication - and that's where PIO comes in. As an agency, you can show ways of communicating this strategically. At the same time, the arrow also points in the other direction: what you communicate must also have substance. In order to be able to draw on the full potential of their communication, companies need a solid basis for their values. We can help with this.  

And PIO's new positioning, “what matters”, is a very good fit for us. Because when we are both searching for the core of the issues, we are pulling in the same direction and achieve the best result for the customer. And it's also a good feeling for the companies when the values and communication are in line. 

Dear Ben, thank you for talking to us.