Responsible and ethical use of AI at Wärtsilä
Artificial intelligence can enhance Wärtsilä’s products, services and processes and create new opportunities for innovation and growth. At the same time, AI can create legal, ethical, social and environmental risks. Wärtsilä’s AI Policy sets out the principles, prohibited practices and governance measures for the responsible and ethical use of AI in our activities.
Purpose of AI Policy
The policy is intended to:
- Minimise potential harms and risks of AI to Wärtsilä, its employees and business partners, including data security incidents, regulatory non-compliance, disclosure of confidential information, infringement of intellectual property rights, infringement of privacy, disturbance of operations, and environmental impacts.
- Ensure that our AI solutions are safe, reliable and trustworthy, respect the rights, dignity and autonomy of human beings, and are used in an ethical manner.
- Enhance performance, efficiency and competitiveness by developing, implementing and using AI to create value for Wärtsilä, our customers and other stakeholders.
The Policy applies to all employees, directors and executives of legal entities belonging to Wärtsilä Group, as well as externals and consultants working for Wärtsilä.
Our AI principles
Wärtsilä’s use of AI is guided by the following principles:
- Fairness: AI systems must be designed and used in ways that maximise fairness, non-discrimination and accessibility, including by correcting unwanted data and algorithmic biases.
- Accountability: Developers, deployers and users are responsible for ensuring that AI is used in line with applicable laws, regulations, this Policy and other applicable AI guidelines.
- Transparency: AI must be explainable and understandable. Where AI is used in decision-making, decisions should be auditable and traceable. Users should be informed when they are interacting with AI, and artificially generated or manipulated content should be disclosed where required by the Policy.
- Reliability, safety and security: Wärtsilä develops and deploys AI systems that are reliable, safe and secure, and that protect confidentiality, integrity and availability. The development, deployment and use of AI must comply with Wärtsilä cyber security policies and procedures.
- Privacy and confidentiality: AI must respect privacy and preserve confidentiality. The development, deployment and use of AI must comply with applicable data protection laws and Wärtsilä Data Protection Policy and guidelines.
- Environmental sustainability: Environmental aspects should be considered when using AI. Wärtsilä aims to avoid AI systems that do not demonstrate significant efficiencies or benefits.
Regulatory compliance
Wärtsilä ensures that its AI activities comply with AI regulations and all other applicable laws and regulations. This includes the EU AI Act and other laws relevant to trade secrets, personal data protection, information security and intellectual property rights.
Prohibited AI practices
Wärtsilä prohibits certain AI practices to ensure ethical and responsible use. These include:
- Manipulation and deception
- Exploitation of vulnerabilities
- Social scoring
- Certain individual criminal offence risk assessment and prediction practices
- Untargeted scraping to develop facial recognition databases
- Emotion recognition from biometric data in workplace-related settings, subject to the limited exceptions stated in the Policy
- Biometric categorisation for sensitive characteristics as described in the Policy
AI governance
Wärtsilä’s AI governance measures cover the AI lifecycle and are designed to support compliance with the Policy and applicable requirements and to prevent or mitigate potential risks or harm arising from AI. Publicly available AI that has not been processed in accordance with Wärtsilä AI governance measures must not be used.
Our AI governance measures are based on four pillars:
- AI inventory: all AI systems developed, distributed or deployed at Wärtsilä must be registered and kept up to date.
- AI risk assessment and classification: AI risk assessments must be carried out before AI systems are taken into use, and risk classification is monitored in line with the EU AI Act framework.
- Managing third-party AI risks: third-party AI providers are assessed through Wärtsilä processes, and contracts must include appropriate AI-related requirements, including restrictions on using Wärtsilä data as AI training material without written approval.
- AI training and literacy: Wärtsilä provides training and guidance to support responsible and ethical use of AI.
Roles and responsibilities
Developers, deployers and users of AI each have defined responsibilities under the Policy. Wärtsilä Information Management, Data Protection and Privacy, Legal and Compliance, and the AI Ethics Board support responsible AI governance within Wärtsilä. The AI Ethics Board provides multidisciplinary guidance and reviews high-risk AI projects identified through risk assessment and classification.
Review of the Policy
Wärtsilä reviews and updates the AI Policy at least once every two years, or more often if needed, to reflect changes in technology and applicable regulatory requirements.
Wärtsilä AI Policy has been approved by Executive Vice President, Public Affairs and Legal, 29 September 2025.
