The artificial intelligence revolution is here, and the question one needs to ask is not whether coding jobs will remain or perish–rather how do we measure the ethical aspects? Around the world, there has been a race to build sophisticated algorithms. To the layperson, these often seem to make coders oddly irrelevant, as if their skills are being outpaced by machines. However, look a little deeper, and the ethical conundrum becomes impossible to ignore—raising serious questions about integrity in AI development and deployment.
For example, artificial intelligence has the propensity to transform critical sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, banking, and even governance. But what about the ethical aspects of patient trust, employee or customer satisfaction, and ethical banking?
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India has taken the right lead by not only starting an artificial intelligence framework for public servants but also building a comprehensive framework that educates 3.1 million civil servants. The polymath society explains how such programs have emerged as the primary vehicle to embed ethics, inclusion, and fairness in national AI frameworks. These indicate that frameworks and the technical education go beyond just making technical interventions.
Why Pitch Ethics With AI?
Recent years have witnessed a spurt in artificial intelligence enablement, but there has also been a demand for ethical grounding. These have been demanded for several reasons. For instance, while facial recognition enabled a range of applications, their use case has also cascaded several issues-racial bias, gender discrimination, and even engines that amplified harmful content.
The global AI community is grappling with fundamental questions about surveillance, privacy, and algorithmic fairness. Nations are scrambling to establish regulatory frameworks, while companies face mounting pressure to demonstrate responsible artificial intelligence practices.
Such aspects indicate that it is not just technical incompetence but also insufficient consideration of the ethical aspects during development. Ethical AI and public policy ensure that AI is not only accessible but also continues to positively impact human lives—without causing harmful consequences. A Assocham & EY report published in mid-July 2025 emphasizes the ethical AI’s potential to democratize education and reinforce “Education 5.0”—a future-ready ecosystem blending technology and human-centric learning.
India’s BIG Opportunity?
India finds itself at a unique crossroads, as it continues to export substantial AI talent globally. With a focus on ethical AI, India not only has the chance to improve the number but also focus on the qualitative aspects that define a new global AI workforce.
Generative AI is truly an enablement that improves organisational efficiency. A SSRN paper highlights a randomized field experiment covering 7,137 knowledge workers. Half were given access to generative AI tools over six months—the findings showed significant transformation in productivity and workflows.
The country’s diverse social fabric provides natural advantages in understanding bias and fairness considerations. Indian AI professionals regularly work across different languages, cultures, and socioeconomic contexts—experiences that are invaluable when designing inclusive AI systems. This cultural competency, combined with technical excellence and strong ethical training, could position India as the world’s premier source of responsible AI talent.
Path to Embedding Ethics
Our transformation needs to begin in classrooms and training centers. Current AI curricula heavily emphasize mathematical foundations, programming languages, and model optimization. While these technical skills remain essential, they must be complemented by robust ethical training that becomes as fundamental as Python or TensorFlow.
AI ethics education should cover bias detection and mitigation, privacy-preserving techniques, transparency and explainability, and the broader societal implications of AI systems. Students need to understand how their technical decisions ripple through society, affecting employment, justice, and human dignity.
But this education should not be just the onus of academicians. Technology companies need to move beyond treating ethics as a compliance checkbox. Ethical considerations should be embedded throughout the development lifecycle, from initial design through deployment and monitoring. This requires teams that include not just engineers and product managers, but also ethicists, social scientists, and community representatives.
A collaborative approach between academia and industry is here to enable. For instance, through IndiaAI initiatives like FutureSkills and collaboration with OpenAI, 2.4 million people will have been trained in AI skills by 2025 (74% from tier 2/3 cities, 65% women). Additionally, there are plans to target 10 million trained by 2030.
India has the opportunity to lead the global AI wave and government action is certainly crucial. Policymakers should incentivize ethical AI training through educational grants, certification programs, and public-private partnerships.
The path to global artificial intelligence domination involves comprehensive AI ethics education, responsible industry practices, and developing thoughtful policy frameworks. Doing this ensures a clear road to success—technical talent exports and leading the world on global artificial intelligence benchmarks. But there’s the icing on the cake too—the chance to shape AI’s impact on humanity itself.
The article has been written by Chintan Dave, General Manager, AI CERTS
