AI4People promotes responsible AI and supports governments and global businesses in mitigating AI risks and implementing AI ethics and AI technologies across the whole organization in a safe, risk-free, ethic and responsible manner.

AI4People addresses burgeoning concerns related to bias, privacy, accountability, and transparency in AI algorithms and applications. The company strives to foster trust, innovation, and a sustainable future where AI serves society equitably and responsibly.

AI4People was established as a Limited Company in UK by Michelangelo Baracchi Bonvicini (President Atomium-EISMD), Luciano Floridi (Founding Director of the Digital Ethics Center, Yale University), Robert Madelin (former Director-General DG Connect, European Commission) and AI4People Institute as spin-off of AI4People Institute, they previously launched in 2018 with Tony Blair. AI4People Institute is at the origin of the regulatory process that led to the AI Act in Europe, the world’s first AI regulation.

The paper “AI4People—An Ethical Framework for a Good AI Society: Opportunities, Risks, Principles, and Recommendations”, published in 2018 in the journal Minds and Machines, is one of the most influential contributions in the contemporary phase of artificial intelligence ethics.

Since its publication it has enjoyed very wide dissemination:

• about 2517 citations according to Springer and 956 citations according to Scopus;

• around 261,000 “accesses” (page views or PDF downloads) on Springer;

• open access, therefore freely available to researchers, policymakers, students, and professionals.

These data show that the paper is not only highly cited in academia, but also widely read and used as a reference in scientific literature, public policy, and the governance of AI.

The work emerged within the initiative of the AI4People Institute with the aim of defining an ethical, legal, and policy framework to guide AI development in a socially beneficial direction.

Why is the AI4People Ethical Framework so influential?

• It is one of the most cited and influential ethical frameworks in the most recent phase (post-2016) of the AI ethics debate.

• It marked a turning point in the shift from academic AI ethics to public policy, with a significant impact on the governance of AI.

• It is considered a foundational document in formalizing European ethical guidelines on AI, anticipating themes later taken up in the EU Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI (2019) of the European Commission and laying the groundwork for the regulatory phase that led to the AI Act.

• It provides a central reference in contemporary literature on ethical principles for AI systems (beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, justice, explicability).

• Its open-access nature and the high number of accesses and citations demonstrate both its scientific relevance and practical interest, making it a concrete reference tool for policies, regulations, and ethical implementations.