Executives from Everis, Bankia, group Prisa and Savia specialized in big data and artificial intelligence debated at the University of Navarra on the need to incorporate ethics into the processes of technology companies.

The session was moderated by Joan Fontrodona Felip, Professor of Professional Ethics at IESE Business School and Head of Chair Caixabank Corporate Social Responsibility; the panel also included Rafael Fernández Campos, Chief Data Officer at Bankia and President of Club CDO Spain and Latam; María Teresa Sánchez Hidalgo, Head of IA & AI Ethics at Everis; José Rubén Gallardo Gómez, Chief Data Officer at Savia; and Alberto González Pascual, Director of Transformation, development and Talent at area of human resources at group Prisa.

During the session, the professionals presented the ethical and social challenges that companies face when managing data, such as privacy, security and the importance of informing users. "The determining factor for society not to be manipulated by fake news is Education", said Rafael Fernandez. The experts agreed that some of the most common practices when managing customer information is to inform them about the data they are providing and its purpose.

The managers agreed that technology is not completely objective, because it is programmed by people and they transfer their perspective and prejudices. José Rubén Gallardo explained that "people are the ones who manage the data, therefore, it is in our hands what we are going to do as business with that technological capacity". 

"If we want companies to behave ethically, we are also the ones who have to exercise some ethics when contracting products and services and know who we are contracting with," stressed Bankia's CDO, Rafael Fernández, who appealed to the responsibility of consumers, as he assured that they ultimately decide whether to opt for ethically responsible companies. 

Mayte Sánchez Hidalgo explained that the modern nature of the sector gives rise to constant creativity: "due to the speed of the technological development new challenges will appear continuously," she said.

The session, which was attended by around one hundred professionals from different countries, was held in a face-to-face format with reduced seating capacity, but was also streamed to facilitate the attendance. The event was organized by the high school of Science of the data in Artificial Intelligence of the University of Navarra. Among its main objectives are an important support to research and knowledge transfer to the industrial, business and societal domains. For this reason the high school runs a Master's Degree in Big Data Science.