Responsible AI: Portraits With Intelligent Bibliometrics

Shifting the focus from principles to practical implementation, responsible artificial intelligence (AI) has garnered considerable attention across academia, industry, and society at large. Despite being in its nascent stages, this emerging field grapples with nebulous concepts and intricate knowledge frameworks. By analyzing three prevailing concepts–explainable AI, trustworthy AI, and ethical AI, this study defined responsible AI (RAI) and identified its core principles. Methodologically, this study successfully demonstrated the implementation of leveraging AI’s capabilities into bibliometrics for enhanced knowledge discovery and the cross-validation of experimentally examined models with domain insights. Empirically, this study investigated 17 799 research articles contributed by the AI community since 2015. This involves recognizing key technological players and their relationships, unveiling the topical landscape and hierarchy of RAI, charting its evolution, and elucidating the interplay between the responsibility principles and primary AI techniques. An analysis of a core cohort comprising 380 articles from multiple disciplines captures the most recent advancements in RAI. As one of the pioneering bibliometric studies dedicated to exploring RAI, this study will provide comprehensive macro-level insights, enhancing the understanding of RAI while furnishing valuable knowledge support for AI regulation and governance initiatives.