Artificial intelligence (AI) is a powerful technology that is expected to revolutionize the world. Companies that take full advantage of AI can completely transform their operations, gaining the benefits of better efficiency, reduced costs and enhanced innovation. This is especially true for entrepreneurs small business owners, as they can use AI to perform at levels once only possible for large corporations.

While AI can bring tremendous positive change, many people worry that using this technology in unethical ways can cause more harm than good. As entrepreneurs and small business owners, we want to do what's right for our customers and employees. Fortunately, there are steps entrepreneurs can take to ensure that AI is being used in the right way within their companies. By understanding the ethical landscape and taking proactive steps, entrepreneurs can harness the power of AI responsibly.

Related: How to implement ethical AI practices in your company

1. Privacy and data security

AI requires large amounts of data to perform tasks in order to provide detailed answers to user input. Often, this data contains personal or sensitive information. Data breaches can result in unauthorized access or misuse of this information, leading to serious business consequences – including damage to consumer confidence, financial losses and even legal implications.

The easiest form of protection is to use AI security features. Most AI platforms come equipped with safeguards such as encryption, firewalls, and data anonymization. While these tools are great, it's important to note that the vast majority (nearly 90%) of all data breaches are the result of human error. Investing in data security training for your team can mitigate most data privacy and security risks.

In addition, it is important to stay updated on every data protection laws and regulations that apply to your business, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

2. Displacement of work

Small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy, providing nearly half of all jobs in the private sector. One of the biggest concerns is that AI will replace a large number of human jobs. While this is a real fear for employees, especially those who perform routine and repetitive tasks like data entry, the economy still needs consumers to stay healthy. With this in mind, small businesses can lead efforts to support the ethical and responsible deployment of AI technology by taking a human-first approach.

Rather than thinking of AI as a replacement for human workers, think of AI as a tool to augment the efforts of team members to allow them to focus on other high-value activities. Where AI can completely replace human tasks, businesses have an ethical responsibility to focus their efforts retraining or upgrading team members to move into less influential roles or take on new responsibilities.

Related: How to implement ethical AI practices in your company

3. Misinformation, information bias and discrimination

While AI has many powerful use cases, it can also be used to generate misleading or harmful contenteven if unintentionally. Human language, culture and social behavior can be quite complex, so AI may not pick up on nuances that can significantly change the meaning of words and phrases in certain contexts.

AI can also inadvertently make recommendations based on SUPERSTITION in the training data set. For example, you can use AI to sift through a list of job applicants to narrow it down to a short list of high-quality candidates. This can save an entrepreneur a lot of time during the recruitment process. However, UA may prioritize recommending a particular gender candidate simply because of historical biases in the data.

It is essential that entrepreneurs have processes and guidelines in place to review, fact-check and validate the accuracy of information generated using AI. After all, AI is only as good as the data it's trained on. You can also mitigate risk with customers by providing transparency into which content is generated by AI through disclaimers.

4. Impacts on the environment

AI requires massive amounts of energy to process data. One of the main AI models, ChatGPT, used around 1300 megawatt hours of electricity only to train the third generation of the model. That's the equivalent of electricity needed to power 130 US homes for a full year. As AI becomes more mature, the amount of energy needed to power AI and supporting data centers is expected to increase significantly.

Small businesses can support a sustainable future of AI by taking actions such as selecting AI technology that is designed to be energy efficient and using data centers that are powered by renewable energy. The development of AI is also expected to increase the volume of e-waste, so implementing an e-waste policy or recycling program can help.

Related: What will it take to build a truly ethical AI? These 3 tips can help.

As AI becomes a ubiquitous part of the business world, entrepreneurs and business owners have a responsibility to find the balance between practicality and ethical use of this technology. It is likely that governments and other regulatory agencies will continue to enforce stricter guidelines to protect consumers. By keeping ethics at the forefront of your AI deployment, business owners can reduce risk of possible business interruptions or major changes in operational procedures.