Responsible AI: the key to turning technological innovation into positive social impact
Artificial intelligence is expanding human capabilities and opening new opportunities across a wide range of fields, but its potential to drive economic and social progress depends on how it is designed, developed, and used. Preventing advances in AI from widening inequalities, ensuring respect for fundamental rights, and keeping people at the center of decision-making are among the challenges organizations must address to advance responsible AI.
To reflect on these challenges, Fundación SERES and Esade held a new session of the Esade - Fundación SERES Conference Series entitled “Responsible AI for Meaningful Impact”. The event featured Mario Lara, Director of Esade Madrid; Ana Sainz, CEO of Fundación SERES; Jesús Cuesta, AI Lead at Accenture; Sonia Ruiz, academic collaborator at Esade’s Institute for Social Innovation and CEO and founding partner of NOIMA, Sustainability Strategies; and Ana Torres, Director of Social Impact at Orange Spain.
AI responsibility begins with leadership decisions
According to Ana Sainz, CEO of Fundación SERES, “Artificial intelligence can free up time, expand capabilities, and create new opportunities that translate into economic and social progress. But at Fundación SERES, we firmly believe this transformation cannot be understood solely as a technology project: people must continue to define the purpose, context, boundaries, and accountability of decisions.”
Mario Lara, Director of Esade Madrid, highlighted the importance of placing responsibility at the heart of the transformation brought about by artificial intelligence: “We are experiencing a moment of extraordinary change. Artificial intelligence has entered our companies with tremendous force and a highly compelling promise, but also with risks. It promises greater productivity, greater efficiency, more capacity for innovation, new businesses, and new products and services. But is it enough for AI to be effective for our companies? Probably not.” He also noted that adopting this technology means assuming responsibility for its effects on people, work, and the use of data, as well as for who makes decisions and is accountable when something goes wrong: “We can delegate tasks to AI, but there is one thing we cannot delegate: responsibility for those decisions, which belongs to those of us serving in leadership roles.”
Responsible AI: a strategic decision requiring leadership and governance
Jesús Cuesta, AI Lead at Accenture, emphasized that responsible development must be built into the process from the outset and focused on generating trust and value: “Artificial intelligence can expand capabilities, remove barriers, and unlock opportunities that until now seemed difficult to achieve. Developing it responsibly, by design and with people leading the process, is what creates the trust needed to scale it and ensure that its benefits reach a growing number of companies and society at large.”
Cuesta noted that companies should start with the problem they want to solve and the value they aim to create, rather than with the mere availability of technology. To do so, he highlighted three priorities: define the expected value, identify the risks, and measure AI’s real-world impact once it has been implemented.
Along these lines, Sonia Ruiz, academic collaborator at Esade’s Institute for Social Innovation and CEO and founding partner of NOIMA, Sustainability Strategies, said that ethics must guide business decisions: “Genuine AI governance should also be measured by the ability to say no to projects that are not aligned with these ethical principles.”
Ruiz also warned that AI can widen inequalities if it is not accompanied by accessible training for people with fewer digital skills. She also stressed the need to incorporate sustainability into its development, noting that its use carries energy and water costs that companies must consider: “Companies cannot decarbonize their operations while ‘carbonizing’ the cloud.”
For her part, Ana Torres, Director of Social Impact at Orange Spain, argued that technology must help close gaps and address the needs of the most vulnerable: “In the age of artificial intelligence, our main goal is to ensure that this tool helps narrow gaps rather than widen them by designing solutions conceived by and for the most vulnerable groups.” She added: “AI generates as much enthusiasm as uncertainty and brings both risks and opportunities. In this environment, companies must maintain an unwavering commitment to people, building trust and ensuring that technology will always serve them.”
Participants agreed that responsible AI must be approached as a strategic decision, with people at the center and governance that ensures transparency and accountability. The challenge is to harness its potential to create opportunities and contribute to the common good without widening social divides or overlooking its environmental impact.
Since 2011, the Esade - Fundación SERES Conference Series has brought together 150 speakers in more than 50 events to share trends, experiences, and business best practices in the social sphere, while reinforcing the role of business as a key driver of economic and social progress.