Data Analytics for the Social Good

This chapter describes instances in which companies intentionally use advanced analytics and AI to serve the social good without any direct benefit to their own bottom lines. Broadly speaking, we found two types of “social good” projects. Some employed approaches to learn about, and inform individuals of, risks or opportunities to improve their lives. Others provided information to public bodies that enabled them to improve their planning efforts or efficiency, such as utilizing location data to improve evacuation planning during natural disasters or to track infectious diseases. The research suggested that companies are cognizant of the need to attend both to moral values and to the interests of a broad set of stakeholders, and of the fact that doing so can build trust and contribute to the company’s own well-being. In our study, many companies expressed a willingness to enter into beyond compliance ethical thinking in recognition of the convergence of their own business interests with the demands of trustworthy and responsible decision-making. These efforts raise interesting questions about companies’ moral obligation to pursue the public good and how companies will behave when the public and corporate good diverge.