Will biased AI ruin everything?

AI needs ethics rules: ©Toowongsa - stock.adobe.com

As generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Google’s Gemini, and Microsoft’s Copilot continue to reshape industries, concerns over embedded biases threaten to undermine their credibility. A study co-authored by Naveen Kumar, an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma’s Price College of Business, explains the urgent need for ethical and explainable AI to ensure fairness and transparency in decision-making.

“With international players like DeepSeek and Alibaba releasing platforms that are either free or much less expensive, there is going to be a global AI price race,” Kumar said in a statement. “When price is the priority, will there still be a focus on ethical issues and regulations around bias? Or, since there are now international companies involved, will there be a push for more rapid regulation? We hope it’s the latter, but we will have to wait and see.”

The study points to research indicating that nearly a third of surveyed individuals believe they have lost opportunities—such as jobs or financial prospects—due to biased AI algorithms. While AI developers have made progress in reducing explicit biases, Kumar warns that implicit biases remain deeply ingrained and more difficult to detect.

“As these LLMs play a bigger role in society, specifically in finance, marketing, human relations and even health care, they must align with human preferences. Otherwise, they could lead to biased outcomes and unfair decisions,” he said. “Biased models in health care can lead to inequities in patient care; biased recruitment algorithms could favor one gender or race over another; or biased advertising models may perpetuate stereotypes.”

To combat these risks, Kumar and his co-authors advocate for proactive technical and organizational solutions to monitor and mitigate AI bias. Their study calls for a balanced approach that takes into account the interests of developers, business leaders, ethicists, and regulators to ensure AI remains efficient, fair, and transparent.

“This industry is moving very fast, so there is going to be a lot of tension between stakeholders with differing objectives,” Kumar said. “Finding the sweet spot across different business domains and different regional regulations will be the key to success.”