Ethics and trustworthiness have advanced artificial intelligence research

During the year artificial intelligence, or AI, was one the main areas of research focus at Arcada as the social impact of artificial intelligence increases. Ethics and trustworthiness became important concepts, not least at Arcada’s newly established Laboratory for Trustworthy AI. A substantial grant from the Ministry of Education and Culture and the appointment of an affiliated professor to the laboratory are other AI research milestones of the year.

AI has gained in importance at Arcada due to efforts that began ten years ago, when AI research was introduced at the UAS, paving the way for the Big Data Analytics master’s programme, among others. In subsequent years Arcada has further enhanced the focus on AI by specifically concentrating on the ethics of new technologies and the interaction between humans and robots. Dental care, care of the elderly as well as rehabilitation therapy and preventive health care are only a few of the areas that so far have benefited from research into AI development and use.

A new laboratory and a substantial grant

In 2022 the newly established Laboratory for Trustworthy AI became part of an interdisciplinary, international research network for organisations and actors training to evaluate sustainable and ethical uses of AI. The laboratory connects academia with civil society, including developers of AI solutions, students, end users, researchers, and stakeholders – an initiative made possible in part by the fundraising campaign Arcada 25.

The laboratory and the international network allow Arcada’s research staff to evaluate how trustworthy and sustainable AI development is safeguarded trough a holistic process, in order to promote an ethical development of society. We identified ethical values and positions as the most important aspects of the process of evaluating trustworthy AI. The evaluation process itself was carried out using Z-Inspection® , a method of evaluating trustworthy AI, which became available when professor Roberto V. Zicari, the founder of Frankfurt Big Data Lab at Goethe University and the Z-Inspection® initiative, became an affiliated professor at Arcada in 2021.

The starting point of this research project is that ethics and social impact are important factors in understanding the consequences of computer-controlled decisions and solutions. We reach the highest AI potential when the end user, human responsibility and thought processes come first, and AI is a support function.

A deeper understanding of the effects of artificial intelligence, and hence the inherent pitfalls, in societal terms, for democracy, peace and civic wellbeing, was gained not only within the network of the lab, but was also noted by the EU Commission, the European parliament, the UN and the World Economic Forum. Senior lecturer Magnus Westerlund, the initiator of the Laboratory for Trustworthy AI, also initiated a related research project in sustainable and ethical AI utilisation in society, Trustworthy AI Systems (TAIS). The research project was granted 500 000 euros from the Ministry of Education and Culture, part of a five-million-euro government grant earmarked for research, development and innovation disbursed to ten Finnish universities of applied sciences.

– The starting point of this research project is that ethics and social impact are important factors in understanding the consequences of computer-controlled decisions and solutions. We reach the highest AI potential when the end user, human responsibility and thought processes come first, and AI is a support function, Westerlund says.

The interdisciplinary aspect attracted a new affiliated professor

Our expertise in trustworthy AI was further enhanced in 2022 when philosophy professor Elisabeth Hildt was appointed Arcada’s third affiliated professor. Hildt is the director of the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at Illinois Institute of Technology with a Ph.D. from the university of Tübingen. Her areas of expertise include the social and ethical consequences of science and technology, bioethics as well as technology and society.

Portrait photo of Elisabeth Hildt.


– Working with Elisabeth Hildt, a pioneer of applied ethics, is a great boon for Arcada. Her insight will contribute to Arcada’s research and education in AI and ethical questions, said Henrika Franck, dean of Graduate school and research at Arcada, about the appointment.

Hildt was drawn to the interdisciplinary, international research community that connects academia with society at large.

– Arcada is an interdisciplinary UAS representing several sectors, which makes it particularly interesting to me. My own area of expertise with the focus on ethical aspects fits in nicely with Arcada’s research into AI. I see several interesting possibilities for cooperation and development, Hildt says.

Current research topics

  • Distributed safety for modular autonomous systems
  • Improved utilisation of digital opportunities and future use of AI in order to discover or support specific functions and digital processes
  • AI integrity and ethics
  • Social robotics
  • Development of new machine-learning algorithms
  • Evaluating the use of AI
  • Open architecture of digital infrastructure
  • Evaluating system risks on the macro-financial level
  • Mapping acid sulphate soils and their climate impact
  • Ways of using safe and fast AI methods as close to the user as possible (Edge Computing)

Current research

  • Trustworthy AI
  • AI and autonomous vehicles
  • AI and humanoid robots
  • AI and autonomous marine vessels
  • Work capacity of people with mental health problems
  • Autonomous care support agents
  • AI drones
  • Functional capacity of the aged
  • Mapping acid sulphate soils and their climate impact
  • Ways of using safe and fast AI methods as close to the user as possible (Edge Computing)