Smart Factory

Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into workplace processes promises significant efficiency gains, yet organizations face numerous ethical challenges that stakeholders are often initially unaware of—from opacity in decision-making to algorithmic bias and premature automation risks. This paper presents the design and validation of tachAId, an interactive advisory tool aimed at embedding human-centered ethical considerations into the development of AI solutions. It reports on a validation study conducted across two distinct industrial AI applications with varying AI maturity. tachAId successfully directs attention to critical ethical considerations across the AI solution lifecycle that might be overlooked in technically-focused development. However, the findings also reveal a central tension: while effective in raising awareness, the tool’s non-linear design creates significant usability challenges, indicating a user preference for more structured, linear guidance, especially ...

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers significant potential to enhance industrial quality control, yet successful implementation requires careful consideration of ethical and human factors. This article examines how automated surface inspection systems can be deployed to augment human capabilities while ensuring ethical integration into workflows. Through design science research, twelve stakeholders from six organizations across three continents are interviewed and twelve sociotechnical design requirements are derived. These are organized into pre-implementation and implementation/operation phases, addressing human agency, employee participation, and responsible knowledge management. Key findings include the critical importance of meaningful employee participation during pre-implementation, and maintaining human agency through experiential learning, building on existing expertise. This research contributes to ethical AI workplace implementation by providing guidelines that preserve human ...