IESBA publishes ethics guidance on AI and emerging technology

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants released a staff publication on the ethics of emerging technology, reported by Michael Cohn at Accounting Today. The title is Emerging Technologies: A Characteristics-Based Approach to Ethical Considerations for Professional Accountants. It covers artificial intelligence, machine learning, distributed ledger technology, quantum computing, and robotic process automation. Rather than treat each technology on its own, the document sorts them by characteristics: opacity, non-determinism, data dependence, perpetual adaptivity, autonomy, scalability, and speed. It then maps how those traits can threaten the fundamental principles in the ethics code. The publication states that accountants remain responsible for their own judgments regardless of the level of automation. IESBA says AI-specific material comes next. The work runs alongside IAASB projects on technology and quality management.