Balancing Innovation with Ethical Values: A Bibliometric Analysis of Ethical AI Research Trends

Abstract

The ethical aspect of artificial intelligence (AI) has received a lot of academic interest as AI technologies continue to draw societies, economies, and systems of governance. The bibliometric survey provides a systematic assessment of the research trend, the topic development, and an impactful contribution to the research field in the topic of AI ethics between 2010 and 2024. Based on 1,234 records in Scopus, the proposed paper will use VOSviewer and Bibliometrix (R) software to analyze the productivity of authors, their collaboration with institutions, the use of keywords, and citation networks. Results indicate that since 2016 to today, scholarly output has grown exponentially with significant contributions being made by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, and thereafter, it has turned its attention to Asia. Thematic clusters include the clusters of algorithmic bias, explainable AI, data privacy, and governance ethics. The paper ends by highlighting the future research directions, as it is more focused on making contributions in the domain of AI-based ethics due to its interdisciplinary inquiry and collaborative governance.The research identified and demonstrated the primary areas and patterns of collaboration in the area of AI-based ethics, and it also allows having a discussion around its responsible deployment.