A new online course from the University of Edinburgh aims to close the “AI trust gap” — the growing divide between the power of artificial intelligence and the public’s willingness to trust it.
Developed under the UK Research and Innovation–funded BRAID (Bridging Responsible AI Divides) research programme, Responsible AI for SMEs offers small and medium-sized businesses a structured path to understanding the ethical and practical considerations of AI adoption.
The self-paced course comprises five modules, each focused on helping business leaders assess whether, how, and when to deploy AI responsibly. It prioritises sound judgement over speed, equipping participants with frameworks for critical decision-making rather than promises of automation-led efficiency.
Contributors to the course include UK business owners, industry experts, and civil society leaders who bring real-world insight into the opportunities and risks surrounding AI in the workplace. Through case studies and reflective exercises, learners are encouraged to build their own responsible AI roadmap, aligning technology choices with business values and customer trust.
Professor Shannon Vallor, Co-Director of BRAID and AI ethicist at the University of Edinburgh, said the course is designed to help SMEs cut through the noise surrounding AI adoption. “This course is designed to help SMEs filter through the noise around AI, offering grounded, practical guidance that helps them make good decisions, including the decision not to adopt AI at all,” said Professor Vallor. “Our goal is to help businesses move forward with confidence, not just because they feel they should adopt AI, but because they understand it well enough to make the right call for their business and their customers.”
Professor Vallor co-developed the programme with Professor Ewa Luger, Co-Director of BRAID and Chair of Human-Data Interaction at the University of Edinburgh. Professor Luger said many businesses are already engaging with AI systems, whether they realise it or not. “AI is already in the workplace, whether businesses know it or not,” she said. “What we’re offering is not a fast-track to AI success, but a way to understand the implications, manage the risks and protect the trust that businesses work so hard to build.”
The course includes perspectives from UK companies such as Edinburgh-based creative technology business Black Goblin. Its co-founder, Ana Betancourt, said the biggest challenge for SMEs is not technical, but ethical judgement. “For many SMEs and start-ups, the biggest challenge with AI is not technical, it’s judgement,” she said. “Speed is often presented as the answer, but going slower allowed us to avoid building something our users would reject or worse, something that undermined their trust in us.”
Also contributing is Daniele Quercia, Research Director at Nokia Bell Labs in Cambridge, who has spent a decade developing fair and transparent AI tools. “Because we are building systems and AI is going to be everywhere, we need to make sure we’re not generating risks for people,” said Quercia. “To fix something at design stage is very cheap; to fix it after deployment is disastrous, especially for a startup.”
Modules cover topics such as responsible AI innovation, risk and regulatory readiness, and practical approaches to responsible AI by design. The course is available free via the edX and Coursera platforms.
The BRAID programme is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation. More information and registration are available at ed.ac.uk.
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