AI ethics and data governance in the geospatial domain of Digital Earth

Digital Earth (DE) applications provide a common ground for visualising, simulating, and modelling real-world situations. The potential of DE applications has increased significantly with the evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and the capacity to collect and process complex amounts of geospatial data, yet the widespread techno-optimism at the root of DE must now confront concerns over high-risk AI systems and power asymmetries of a datafied society. In this commentary, we claim that not only can current debates about data governance and ethical AI inform development in the field of DE, but that the specificities of geospatial data, together with the expectations surrounding DE applications, offer a fruitful lens through which to examine current debates on data governance and AI ethics. In particular, we argue that for the implementation of ethical AI and inclusive approaches to data governance, DE initiatives need to involve stakeholders and communities at the local level and be sensitive to the social, legal, cultural, and institutional contexts, including conflicts that might arise within those contexts.

MICHELI Marina;  GEVAERT Caroline;  CARMAN Mary;  CRAGLIA Massimo;  DAEMEN Emily;  IBRAHIM Rania Elsayed;  KOTSEV Alexander;  MOHAMED-GHOUSE Zaffar;  SCHADE Sven;  SCHNEIDER Ingrid;  SHANLEY Lea A;  TARTARO Alessio;  VESPE Michele; 

2022-11-28

SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC

JRC130909

2053-9517 (online),   

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20539517221138767,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC130909,   

10.1177/20539517221138767 (online),