NewsBite

Corporate ethics

This Month

Kevin Corbally and Shayne Elliott at ANZ’s half-year results in May 2024.

ANZ risk boss fed up with bank leaks

Executives are cracking down on would-be informants before the bank’s AGM as the board hopes to convince investors it has been tough enough on cultural failings.

  • Jonathan Shapiro and Lucas Baird
This image provided by the New York City Police Department shows a man wanted for questioning in connection to the investigation of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (New York City Police Department via AP)

Manhattan murder frightens executives everywhere

Many companies view investor meetings such as the one that the UnitedHealthcare boss was walking to as security risks because they are highly publicised.

  • Adam Geller and Cathy Bussewitz

October

Commonwealth Bank told investors earlier this month that it would tread carefully in rolling out uses for AI. But ASIC says that, across the banking industry, demand for AI is booming.

Everything we know (so far) about how banks and insurers are using AI

It has been two years since ChatGPT burst onto the stage – and artificial intelligence is becoming more complex. An ASIC survey sheds more light on the future.

  • Lucas Baird and James Eyers

March

Keep AI on a tight leash or embed bias, experts say

AI’s potential to reinforce discrimination is one of its most worrying effects. New regulations aim to keep the powerful technology in check.

  • Alexandra Cain
Capitalism is about harnessing the energy of self-interest.

Why we need an Australian Institute for Applied Ethics

Capitalism depends on government to provide a trusted framework of rules around it. But when politics turns into reality TV, we must ask the ethical questions ourselves.

  • Ken Henry
Advertisement

February

Telstra CEO Vicki Brady

AI should do what humans can’t, not what we want

The best deployments of AI are helping us discover solutions to big problems and work smarter, without taking the humanity out of creativity or selling junk.

  • Paul Smith
Dr Simon Longstaff, AO, director of the Ethics Centre, is urging the federal government to invest in a national ethics institute.

Chaney, McManus, Pocock back $30m push for ethics institute

Leading business figures, union leaders, politicians and academics want the federal government to help establish a national ethics institute.

  • Updated
  • Tom Rabe and Patrick Durkin
Having effectively silenced their staff on political matters, suddenly boards and senior executives claimed to speak for them.

Corporate political activism undermines democracy

Progressive Australians may cheer the do-good business leader when they agree with the desired outcome. But what if corporations choose to champion causes we abhor?

  • Lucinda Holdforth

January

Former Virgin and Crown Resorts corporate affairs executive Danielle Keighery has ditched a job with Optus to join Qantas

Qantas poaches incoming Optus corporate affairs chief

Danielle Keighery was to start at the embattled telecommunications group next month. Instead, the former Crown Resorts executive will start at the airline.

  • Jenny Wiggins

December 2023

CBA’s Matt Comyn loses his right-hand man, the meticulous David Cohen

Over 15 years at the bank, David Cohen has seen it all. On his retirement, he provides a potted history of CBA’s numerous troubles and its transformation.

  • James Eyers
Jimmy Stewart’s voice will read bedtime stories on a wellness app Calm, thanks to AI.

Recreating dead actors with AI does not make for a wonderful life

It may seem harmless to recreate Jimmy Stewart’s voice for a wellness app, but it is the start of a slippery slope that doesn’t end well for humanity.

  • Paul Smith

November 2023

  • Exclusive
  • AI

Australian AI star plans US shift as battle for humanity heats up

Start-up Akin has been struggling to close its $US50 million funding round, while staying true to its goal of building an ethical AI.

  • John Davidson

October 2023

Wesfarmers boss Rob Scott says business was right to speak up for Indigenous advancement.

Business leaders won’t back down from Voice support

After heavy criticism for the role played by big business in the Yes campaign, employers and directors say they will still keep publicly supporting good causes.

  • Tom McIlroy

September 2023

Kevin Burrowes CEO, PwC Australia, says the firm is committed to changing its culture.

An open letter from PwC Australia CEO Kevin Burrowes

“We are deeply sorry for that behaviour and the culture that allowed it to go unchecked for many years.”

Tim Gurner’s comments on unemployment sparked calls for a renewed focus on all corporate stakeholders, not just shareholders.

Why companies should maximise shareholder welfare

Qantas and Tim Gurner show why we need a new theory about corporate managers focusing on the interests of all stakeholders, while maintaining the primacy of creating value for company owners.

  • Richard Holden
Advertisement

June 2023

Erika Cheung, co-founder and director of Ethics in Entrepreneurship, says blowing the whistle on Theranos was the hardest thing she’s done.

I would do it all again, Theranos whistleblower says

Erika Cheung says putting Elizabeth Holmes in jail was never her intention, but potential harm to patients made her speak up.

  • Jessica Sier

May 2023

CBA goes all in on generative AI

AI models, like ChatGPT, are being used by CBA to help call centre staff answer complex customer questions and software engineers to write better computer code.

  • Updated
  • James Eyers
Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt says Governments need to embrace ethical controls over data usage similar to what universities have developed over 50 years.

Governments ‘lack ethics controls for data’

Australian governments should emulate university research procedures in the handling of data, says Nobel laureate and ANU vice chancellor Brian Schmidt.

  • Tom Burton
Geoffrey Hinton, an AI pioneer, joined Google in 2013 and won the Turing Prize, but is now expressing fears about the rapid development of the technology.

When the ‘Godfather of AI’ quits, we all need to start thinking

Mechanics don’t set road rules, so techies must not define the AI world, we need people outside the bubble to understand what is happening and contribute to regulations.

  • Rebecca Johnson
KPMG and Deloitte have told a senate inquiry into consulting firms they take their ethical responsibilities seriously.

KPMG reviewed its secrecy provisions after PwC tax leak

KPMG and Deloitte have told a Senate inquiry they have excellent internal processes for handling confidential government information.

  • Edmund Tadros

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/corporate-ethics-1mt8