Ethical Artificial Intelligence for Digital Health Organizations

This technical report describes the methods undertaken by a US-based Digital Health company (X2AI or X2 for short) to develop an ethical code for startup environments and other organizations delivering emotional artificial intelligence (AI) services, especially for mental health support. With a growing demand worldwide for scalable, affordable, and accessible health care solutions, the use of AI offers tremendous potential to improve emotional well-being. To realize this potential, it is imperative that AI service providers prioritize clear and consistent ethical guidelines that align with global considerations regarding user safety and privacy. This report offers a template for an ethical code that can be implemented by other emotional AI services and their affiliates. It includes practical guidelines for integrating support from clients, collaborators, and research partners. It also shows how existing ethical systems can inform the development of AI ethics.