Awareness of AI ethics in professional software engineering : a survey

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools have become increasingly popular within the software industry and AI components are becoming an almost essential component in many software projects. While adoption rates are accelerating to yearly highs, discussion of AI ethics is often dismissed in organizational settings. This study aimed to explore software developers’ usage of AI tools, familiarity with AI ethics frameworks, assess their understanding of ethical principles, and identify implementation challenges. We used a questionnaire survey (n=28) and a mixed-methods data analysis approach combining quantitative statistical analysis and qualitative thematic analysis using open coding and constant comparison (n=5) to study this general awareness. Our results revealed a major increase in the usage of AI tools and AI component involvement in projects, moderate familiarity with AI ethics principles, and identified key ethical challenges when implementing AI in their work. The study revealed a disconnect between the importance of participants' place on AI ethics and their formal training exposure. This exploratory study provided much-needed insight into the overall state of AI ethics awareness among a community that widely leverages AI tools in their work.