In six decades of history, AI has become a mature and strategic discipline, successfully embedded in mainstream ICT and powering innumerable online applications and platforms. Several official documents stating specific AI policies have been produced by international organisations (like the OCDE), regional bodies (EU), several countries (US, China, Spain, Germany, UK, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico...) as well as major AI-powered firms (Google, Facebook, Amazon). These examples demonstrate public interest and awareness of the economic and societal value of AI and the urgency of discussing the ethical, legal, economic and social implications of deploying AI systems on a massive scale. There is widespread agreement about the relevancy of addressing ethical aspects of AI, an urgency to demonstrate AI is used for the common good, and the need for better training, education and regulation to foster responsible research and innovation in AI.

This chapter is organised around four main areas : ethics, law, economics and society (ELES). These areas shape the development of AI research and innovation, which in turn, influence these four areas of human activity. This interplay opens questions and demands new methods, objectives and ways to design future technologies. This chapter identifies the main impacts and salient challenges in each of these four areas [...]