AI Ethical considerations for enhancing cyber defense in the banking sector

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study focused on the effect of artificial intelligence ethical considerations on cyber defence within the banking sector. The study is based on utilitarianism and deontological ethics. The study objectives were to establish the effect of transparency, accountability and privacy on cyber defence. The study adopted a positivist philosophy, a cross-sectional survey design, as well as a structured self-administered questionnaire. Data was collected from 343 retail bank customers in Harare, Zimbabwe. The respondents were randomly selected by intercepting them as they left the banking halls. Structural equation modelling was used to validate hypotheses. Results reflect that transparency, accountability and privacy positively influence cyber defence. Therefore, banks are encouraged to consider the ethical use of artificial intelligence when formulating strategies to enhance cyber defence. The government must put specific ethical AI policies in place that ensure that ethics is observed when AI is used in the banking sector. Although most governments are putting in place AI policies, what matters most is its ethical use for enhancing cyber defence by organisations, including the banking sector. Furthermore, these ethical AI policies should enhance transparency, accountability and privacy. This study did not exhaust all ethical aspects such as fairness and integrity, among others. Therefore, future studies may explore some of these variables. The study focused only on the banking sector and did not cover other sectors such as retail, tourism and others. The sample size was drawn from Harare only, and future studies may include other cities, countries and other sectors in order to compare and generalise the findings. The study was quantitative in nature, and therefore future studies may include qualitative or mixed methods to improve methodological rigour.