Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects (ELSA) for AI: An assessment tool for Agri-food

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to emerge in various sectors, ethical frameworks and guidelines aim to contribute to responsible AI development. While AI ethics has gained prominence in addressing broader societal concerns, existing regulations and guidelines often lack specificity for certain domain-specific applications (e.g. agri-food). AI is rapidly developed and deployed throughout the agri-food sector, but there is little practical guidance on how to do this responsibly. This study examines if the agri-food sector needs domain-specific guidance for the development and use of responsible AI and, if so, what it could look like. This research proposes it does and aims to fill this gap by introducing a novel approach for responsible AI in agri-food: the ethical, legal, and social aspects (ELSA) Scan. This assessment comprises 25 targeted questions aimed at identifying ELSA considerations. These questions were developed and based on 23 ELSA aspects of AI in agri-food literature and from testing in two case studies (arable and dairy farming). The ELSA Scan provides a clear and implementable approach for identifying ELSA in the development and use of AI in agri-food with AI developers and organisations.