What's Economics Got to Do with It? Providing Theoretical Clarity on ELSA of AI.

Mark Ryan, Vincent Blok

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Science and engineering ethics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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0 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Mark RyanWageningen Social and Economic Research, Pr. Beatrixlaan 582 - 528, Den Haag, 2595 BM, The Netherlands. mark.ryan@wur.nl.ORCID 0000-0003-4850-0111

Vincent BlokPhilosophy Group, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 8130, Wageningen, 6700 EW, The Netherlands.

Funding

Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek NWA.1332.20.002

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

While research in the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) has grown recently, the relationship between AI's ethical and economic dimensions is under-researched. This is surprising, given the considerable investments in AI by Big Tech companies (e.g., Microsoft, META and IBM) and their ambiguous role in today's public debate on AI. After the second Trump election, this ambiguity has resulted in industry opposition to rules and regulations (e.g., disinvestments in moderation facilities at social media platforms and calls for deregulation). AI ethics must respond to the economic underpinnings of this situation.While economics in AI ethics has also been seen in recent funding schemes (e.g., investment in 30 ethical, legal, and social (ELSA) labs), there is a ambiguity in how these AI ELSA labs should respond to economic aspects. This paper examines the role of economics in responsible AI research, using the case of the ELSA lab approach. The four features of ELSA (proximity, anticipation, interdisciplinarity, and interactivity) serve as a point of departure to demonstrate how economics can be integrated within the ELSA framework of AI. This paper proposes that economics should be integrated within these four ELSA features to implement responsible AI successfully.

Indexed as

Artificial IntelligenceEconomicsEthics, ResearchHumansAI ethicsArtificial intelligenceEconomicsEthical, legal, and social aspectsIndustry

Identifiers

PMID41239003

DOI10.1007/s11948-025-00564-x

PMCPMC12618393

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.