TITLE:
Strategies to Implement Safe and Ethical Adoption of Artificial Intelligence
AUTHORS:
Vini Ehsan, Kim A. Critchlow
KEYWORDS:
Artificial Intelligence, Ethical AI Adoption, Responsible Innovation, AI Governance, Data Governance, Human Oversight, Workforce Training, Continuous Monitoring, Qualitative Pragmatic Inquiry
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.14 No.5,
September
30,
2026
ABSTRACT: The absence of ethical guidelines and leadership accountability in AI deployment can result in reputational harm and regulatory noncompliance. Business leaders who struggle to implement AI technologies in ways that are both safe and ethically responsible risk professional credibility and financial instability. Grounded in responsible innovation theory, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry research project was to identify and explore effective strategies business leaders use to develop and apply safe and ethical practices when adopting AI technologies for use. The participants were nine business leaders who implemented effective AI use strategies. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and secondary data from publicly available sources. Using thematic analysis, six themes were identified: 1) structured AI governance and policy development, 2) data governance, privacy, and confidentiality protection, 3) human oversight, AI constraint, and quality assurance, 4) phased pilots, controlled experimentation, and use case prioritization, 5) workforce training, communication, and change management, and 6) continuous monitoring, measurement, and adaptive improvement. A key recommendation is for business leaders to adopt AI with clear governance and ethical safeguards to prevent or minimize risks related to data exposure, biased outputs, employee misuse, poor decision quality, and loss of stakeholder confidence. The implications for positive social change may include AI practices that positively influence individuals, communities, organizations, institutions, and broader society because AI systems increasingly may shape decisions across many business sectors.