German AI Start-Ups and “AI Ethics”: Using A Social Practice Lens for Assessing and Implementing Socio-Technical Innovation

The current AI ethics discourse focuses on developing computational interpretations of ethical concerns, normative frameworks, and concepts for socio-technical innovation. There is less emphasis on understanding how AI practitioners themselves understand ethics and socially organize to operationalize ethical concerns. This is particularly true for AI start-ups, despite their significance as a conduit for the cultural production of innovation and progress, especially in the US and European context.