RespOnSible ArtificiaL Intelligence Ecosystems - Comparing the UK and Germany

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Stefan Böschen; Professor Dr.-Ing. Christian Herzog
• Subject Area: Practical Philosophy ; Empirical Social Research ; History of Science
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 566569111

Questions concerning ethical aspects of AI continue to be dominant in academic discourses as well as national policy, professional, and organisation discussions. The conceptualisation of AI as socio-technical ecosystems is widely used but its implications for questions of ethics and responsibility are not well understood. The ROSALIE project will make a crucial contribution to discussions of ethics and responsibility in AI by providing a conceptually sound and empirically rich analysis of how responsibility is perceived, attributed and enacted across different AI ecosystems. A comparative study exploring the differences and similarities between German and UK AI ecosystems will be undertaken to identify defining features of such ecosystems that influence responsibility. The comparative methodology will be informed by a conceptual analysis of normative positions in AI ethics. This will be complemented by a stakeholder analysis and a detailed study of research and funding conditions (30 expert interviews, 15 each country; 3 stakeholder focus groups with participants from both countries). The project will undertake 10 in-depth case studies on organizations (5 UK and 5 Germany) (document analysis and 3-5 expert interviews each case). The overall comparative analysis of the UK and German AI ecosystems and their constituent components (also 2 Workshops with respectively 3-5 experts from each country) will provide answers to our research questions of how AI ecosystems emerge in relation to specific cultural-institutional boundary conditions and how ethical and responsibility questions are identified, interpreted and addressed in such ecosystems.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: United Kingdom
• Partner Organisation: Arts and Humanities Research Council
• Co-Investigator: Professorin Dr. Saskia K. Nagel
• Cooperation Partners: Professorin Lydia Farina, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Bernd Stahl; Professorin Helena Webb, Ph.D.