产业界负责任人工智能实践的半个十年实证研究 WhatWe Know about Responsible AI Practices in Industry A Half Decade of Empirical Research

WhatWeKnowaboutResponsibleAIPracticesinIndustry:AHalfDecadeofEmpiricalResearch

WESLEYHANWENDENG,

MicrosoftResearch,USA

AGATHEBALAYN,

MicrosoftResearch,USA

ANDREWSELBST,

UniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles,USA

JASONI.HONG,

CarnegieMellonUniversity,USA

MOTAHHAREESLAMI,

CarnegieMellonUniversity,USA

KENNETHHOLSTEIN,

CarnegieMellonUniversity,USA

HANNAWALLACH,

MicrosoftResearch,USA

arXiv:260810431v1[csHC]11Aug2026..

JENNIFERWORTMANVAUGHAN,

MicrosoftResearch,USA

SOLONBAROCAS,

MicrosoftResearch,USA

ResponsibleAI(RAI)hasbecomeacentralconcernfortechnologycompanies,regulators,andthepublic.Howindustrypractitionersinterpret,implement,andsustainRAIworkdirectlyshapesthedesignanddeploymentofAIsystems.AsempiricalscholarshipexaminingRAIpracticesinindustryhasrapidlyexpanded,findingsaredispersedacrossstudiesthatfocusondifferentroles,organizationalcontexts,andinterventions.Thisworksynthesizescurrentknowledgethroughaliteraturereviewof161empiricalstudiesspanningsixyears,eachengagingindustrypractitionersviainterviews,surveys,workshops,ethnographies,andothermethods.OursynthesisrevealsbothmeaningfulprogressandpersistentchallengesinindustryRAIpractice.Practitionerawarenesshasincreased,RAIactivitieshavebecomemoreprofessionalized,andinterventionssuchastoolkitsandguidelinesaremorewidelyadopted.Atthesametime,practitionerscontinuetofacesubstantialbarriers,includinglimitedtraining,unevenorganizationalsupport,andalackofinterventionstailoredtoday-to-dayworkpractices.Byconsolidatingandorganizingthesefindings,weprovideamorecompleteaccountofindustryRAIthananysinglestudytodate.WeconcludebydiscussingimplicationsforRAIresearchers,practitionersseekingtoadopteffectivepractices,andpolicymakersaimingtogroundgovernanceeffortsintherealitiesofindustrycontexts.

CCSConcepts:•Human-centeredcomputing→EmpiricalstudiesinHCI;Empiricalstudiesincollabora-tiveandsocialcomputing;•Computingmethodologies→Artificialintelligence;Machinelearning;•Socialandprofessionaltopics→Computing/technologypolicy;•Securityandprivacy→Humanandsocietalaspectsofsecurityandprivacy.

AdditionalKeyWordsandPhrases:ResponsibleAI,Ethics,AISafety,LiteratureReview

1INTRODUCTION

Thesafeandresponsibledesign,development,anddeploymentofAIsystemshasbecomeagrowingpriorityacrossindustry,policy,andpublicdiscourse.Inpractice,responsibleAI(RAI)isenactednotthroughabstractprinciplesalone,butthroughtheeverydaydecisions,trade-offs,andworkflowsofindustryAIpractitioners.UnderstandinghowRAIisoperationalizedinorganizationalsettingsisthereforeessentialtounderstandinghowAIsystemsareactuallybuilt,governed,andexperiencedintheworld.

Authors’addresses:

WesleyHanwenDeng

,wesleyhdeng@,MicrosoftResearch,300LafayetteSt.,NewYork,NY,10012,USA;

AgatheBalayn

,balaynagathe@,MicrosoftResearch,300LafayetteSt.,NewYork,NY,10012,USA;

AndrewSelbst

,aselbst@,UniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles,405HilgardAve.,LosAngeles,CA,90095,USA;

JasonI.Hong

,jasonh@,CarnegieMellonUniversity,Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania,USA;

Motahhare

Eslami

,meslami@,CarnegieMellonUniversity,5000ForbesAve,Pittsburgh,PA,15213,USA;

KennethHolstein,

kjholste@,CarnegieMellonUniversity,5000ForbesAve,Pittsburgh,PA,15213,USA;

HannaWallach

,wallach@,MicrosoftResearch,300LafayetteSt.,NewYork,NY,10012,USA;

JenniferWortmanVaughan

,jenn@

,MicrosoftResearch,300LafayetteSt.,NewYork,NY,10012,USA;

SolonBarocas

,solon@,MicrosoftResearch,300LafayetteSt.,NewYork,NY,10012,USA.

,Vol.1,No.1,Article.Publicationdate:August2026.

2Dengetal.

Inresponsetothisneed,empiricalresearchexaminingRAIpracticesinindustryhasexpandedrapidlyinrecentyears.Thisbodyofworkspansawiderangeofpractitionerroles,organizationalcontexts,andmethodologicalapproaches,offeringvaluablebutoftenpartialviewsintoRAIasitispracticed.Asaresult,insightsaboutpractitionermotivations,challenges,tooluse,andor-ganizationaldynamicsremaindistributedacrossindividualstudies,makingitdifficulttoformacoherentpictureofhowRAIpracticesfunctionandevolveovertime.WhatiscurrentlymissingisaconsolidatedaccountthattakesstockofwhatthisgrowingempiricalliteraturecollectivelyrevealsaboutRAIinindustry.

SynthesizingpriorworkabouthowRAIiscarriedoutinindustryandbuildingalandscapeofRAIpracticefromtheexistingliteratureiscriticalforseveralreasons.Forpractitioners,asynthesizedunderstandingcansurfacesharedchallenges,emergingnorms,andpromisingapproachesthatmayinformtheirownRAIefforts.Forresearchers,thisworkcanhelpidentifygapswherecurrenttools,frameworks,andmethodsfailtoalignwithreal-worldneeds,guidingthedesignofmoreactionableinterventions.Suchsynthesizedresearchlandscapeisalsoessentialforresearcherstoidentifyresearchgaps,surfacemethodologicalandconceptualtrends,andcarryoutfutureinquiryinthisrapidlyevolvingarea.Forpolicymakers,itcangroundgovernanceandregulatoryproposalsintherealitiesofindustrypractice,helpingtoavoidimplementingpoliciesthatareeithertoohigh-levelordisconnectedfromday-to-dayimplementation.

Tocontributetothisunderstanding,inthiswork,weexplorethefollowingtworesearchquestions:

•Whatdoespriorliteraturerevealaboutthecurrentpracticesandchallengesthatindustrypracti-tionersfacewhendoingRAIontheground?

•Basedonthisliterature,howmightfutureresearchers,practitioners,andpolicymakersbettersupportRAIinindustrypractice?

Toaddressthesequestions,weconductedaliteraturereviewof161empiricalstudiesonindustryRAIacrossresearchcommunitiesBetween2019andAugust2025.Theauthorsreadandanalyzedall161paperswithoutanysupportfromgenerativeAI.Wedefineempiricalworkasresearchinvolvingindustrypractitionersthroughmethodssuchasinterviews,surveys,workshops,ethnographicstudies,orotherstandardempiricalapproaches.OursearchaimedtoencompassabroadrangeofRAItopics,includingAIfairness,transparency,explainability,interpretability,accountability,privacyandsecurity,accessibility,ethics,safety,andmore.Afterbuildingthefullresearchcorpus,weannotatedeachpaperforbothdescriptivedata,suchaspublicationdetailsandinformationaboutresearchparticipantsandmethods,aswellasthemainfindingsoftheseworks,includingtheconcreteempiricalfindingsandimplicationsreported.

Basedontheempiricalfindingsofthesepapers,weidentifiedcurrentpracticesthatdemonstrateprogresstowardsimprovedRAIpracticesinindustry,whilealsohighlightingpersistentchallengestiedtothesepractices.Inparticular,wefindthatwhilepractitioners’awarenessregardingtheexistenceandimportanceofRAIhasgrown(Section5.1)andRAIactivitieshavebecomemoreprofessionalizedandroutine(Section5.2),practitionersoftenstilllacktheexpertise,training,andorganizationalsupportneededtocarryoutthisworkeffectively(Sections6.1and6.2).Furthermore,whilemanyRAIinterventions—suchascomputationaltoolkits,guidelines,documentation,andpolicies—areincreasinglyadoptedinindustry(Section5.3),thereremainsagapintailoringthesein-terventionstospecificAIapplications(theusecasesorproductswhereAIisdeployed),domains(thefieldsorindustriesthoseapplicationsbelongto),andpipelines(theworkflowsandstagesinmodeldesign,development,anddeployment)(Section6.3).Finally,althoughpractitionersarebeginningtoengagewithexternalstakeholderssuchasdataannotators,endusers,anddomainexperts(Section5.4),theseeffortsarefrequentlymarkedbyfrictionsformeaningfullyengaging(Section6.4).

,Vol.1,No.1,Article.Publicationdate:August2026.

RAIPracticesinIndustry

,Vol.1,No.1,Article.Publicationdate:August2026.

Opportunitiesforaddressingthepersistentchallenges

SupportingRAllearningandtrainingbefore-andon-the-job

PossiblemotivationsforcompaniestoprioritizeRAI

Evaluationandco-design

RAlinterventionswithpractitioners

Developinginfrastructureforsustainableexternalcollaboration

ThecurrentpracticeandtrendsofindustryRAI

[5.1]IncreasedawarenessofRAI

[5.2]FromadhocadvocacytoprofessionalizedRoles

[5.3]GraduallyadoptedRAI

interventions

[5.4]Attemptsonexternal

stakeholderengagement

PersistentchallengesofdoingRAlontheground

[6.1]LackofsufficientRAI

expertiseandtraining

[6.2]Misalignedorganizational

dynamicsandincentive

[6.3]LackoftailoredRAltools,processes,andpolicy

[6.4]Resourceandstructuralbarrierstoexternalengagement

Fig.1.Anoverviewofthemainfindingsofourreviewof161empiricalworksonindustryRAlpractice.WeidentifycurrentpracticesthatdemonstrateprogressinimprovingRAlinindustry,whilealsohighlightingpersistentchallengestiedtothesepractices.Ontheleftside,wepresentthesynthesizedfindingsoncurrentindustryRAlpractices(Section5).Ontherightside,wepresentthechallengescorrespondingtothese"successstories"ofdoingRAlinindustrysettings,aswellasthekeyopportunitiessuggestedbythepaperswereviewed(Section6).

Foreachchallenge,wesynthesizecorrespondingopportunitiesresearchershaveproposedinresponse,highlightingbothareasofagreementanddisagreementonpotentialsolutions(Section

6).Buildingonthesefindings,wediscussconcreteimplicationsforresearchers,practitioners,andpolicymakersseekingtobettersupportRAIinindustrypractice(Section7).Theseincludecallformovingbeyondcatalogingknownproblemstowarddesigning,deploying,andevaluatingRAIinterventionsasend-to-endsociotechnicalsystemsembeddedinrealorganizationalworkflows

-ratherthanisolatedtoolsorcomplianceartifactsprimarilyfocusingonassessingmodeloutputs.Inaddition,sustainingthisshiftrequiresnotonlymethodologicalinvestmentinlongitudinalandethnographicapproachesfromresearchers,butalsoregulatoryframeworksthatprioritizeimplementabilityandsubstantiveaccountabilityoverproceduralcompliance,andthatleveragethesignalingpowerofanticipatedregulationtoshapeorganizationalRAIcapacity-building.

Ourpaperultimatelymakesthefollowingcontributions:

●Anin-depthsynthesisofknowledgeofthestateofRAIinindustrypractice,drawingon161priorempiricalstudiesofindustrypractitionersacrossdiverseresearchcommunities.Inparticular,wesystematicallyreviewed,annotated,andanalyzedthisbodyofworktosurfaceconcretepractices,persistentchallenges,andopportunitiesforimplementingRAIontheground.

·Asetofactionableimplicationsandrecommendationstailoredforindustrypractitioners,RAIresearchers,andpolicymakers.TheseinsightshighlightopportunitiesfordifferentactorstoimprovethestatusquoinRAIpractice,RAIresearch,andAIregulation.

4Dengetal.

,Vol.1,No.1,Article.Publicationdate:August2026.

•Anopen-sourcedatabase1ofall161existingempiricalresearchpapersonRAIinindustrypracticewereviewedinthiswork.ThisresourceisdesignedtosupportRAIresearchers,prac-titioners,andpolicymakersinidentifyingrelevantstudies,avoidingduplicationofpriorwork,andbuildingoncumulativeknowledge.

2BACKGROUND

Anumberofexistingsurveystacklequestionsadjacenttoours.Tostartwith,anumberofpublica-tionshavereviewedhowRAIandadjacenttermssuchasAIethicsandTrustworthyAIhavebeendefined[69,71]andspecifiedintoRAIprinciples[49,91],whatRAItools(includinguserinterfacesandgovernanceframeworks)[114,140,206],guidelines[10,91,129],andtechnicalapproachestomitigateRAI-relatedissues(e.g.,[141,205])havebeendeveloped,andtowhatextentthesetoolsandapproachescoverexistinglistsofRAIprinciples[149].Surveysalsodiscussanalyticallywhatchallengesmightarisewhenoperationalizingtheseprinciplesinpractice[199].However,theseworksdonotempiricallyexaminethecurrentpracticesoftheindustrypractitionerswhomightadoptthesetoolsordrawonsuchguidelinestomeettheRAIprinciplessetbytheirorganizations.OurworkinsteadfocusesexclusivelyonpublicationsreportingempiricalworkwithAIpractition-ers,allowingustomapthestateofRAI“ontheground”intermsofbothcurrentpracticesandthechallengespractitionersface.

Someoftheseliteraturereviewshavefocusedonspecificsub-topicsofRAI,suchasexplainableAI[16]orAIfairness[122],whilemostothersdonotdifferentiatebetweenthesetopicsandincludethemalltogetherunderumbrellatermslike“responsibleAI,”“trustworthyAI,”or“ethicalAI.”Incontrast,ourworkdeliberatelytakesabroadviewofRAI,examiningRAIconceptsholisticallyratherthanlimitingourscopetoindividualvaluessuchasfairnessorexplainability.Doingsoenablesustoidentifysimilaritiesanddifferencesinthewaysthesenotionsaretackledinpractice(e.g.,similarorganizationalchallenges),whilemakingsurethatnoRAInotionfallsinthecracksofoursurvey.

Finally,afewrecentpublications[12,19,100,142,161]aremorecloselyrelatedtoourstudy,astheymightsharesimilargoalsandinvestigateasimilarcorpustoours.However,ourworkdiffersinthreekeyways.First,werestrictourcorpustopublicationspresentingempiricalstudieswithAIpractitioners,andweensurecoveragebysearchingacrossmultipledatabasesanddisciplines.Thisapproachyieldsamorecomprehensiveyetfocusedsetofpublications.Second,theserecentreviewstypicallyorganizeresultsbybroadRAIcategoriesorusecases,withoutdiscussingthethemesthatemergeacrosspapersandresearchcommunities.Incontrast,weidentifykeypracticesandchallengesfacedbyAIpractitionersacrosspapers,trackingtheirevolutionovertime.Wealsoassesstheprevalenceandseverityofthesechallenges,distinguishingbetweentypesofpractitionersandAIpipelinephasesaddressed.Finally,basedonouranalysis,weexplicitlyarticulateactionableimplicationsforresearchers,policymakers,andpractitioners,goingbeyondlistinghigh-levelchallengestohighlightconcreteopportunitiesforaddressingthem.Together,thesecontributionsprovideamorecomprehensiveandpractice-groundedsynthesisofempiricalRAIresearchacrossdifferentresearchcommunitiesthanexistingsurveys.

3METHODS

Toinvestigateourresearchquestions,weincludepeer-reviewedresearchpaperspublishedbetween2018andAugust2025thatemployempiricalmethods(e.g.,interviewstudies,surveys,workshops)toprovideinsightsintothecurrentpractices,challenges,andopportunitiesforindustrypractitionersinconductingresponsibleAIworkontheground.Todevelopacomprehensivecorpusofempirical

1Linktodatabaseredactedtomaintainanonymityduringreview.

RAIPracticesinIndustry

,Vol.1,No.1,Article.Publicationdate:August2026.

SeedSet

Manuallyassembledfromauthors'domainexpertise

N=45

KeywordSearch

Database:ACM,IEEE,DBLP,

WebofScience,Sage,PubMed,Springer

Samplekeywords:responsibleAl,fairness,

Alsafety,redteaming,ethics,interview,

survey,biases,empirical

InitialCorpus

Combinedresultsfrombothstrategies

N=115

SnowballSearch

Forward&backwardcitationtracking

N=161Papers

ManualScreening

Filteredbyinclusion/exclusioncriteria

Fig.2.Anoverviewofourpaperreviewprocess

researchonindustryRAIpractices,wefollowedaliteraturereviewprocessinspiredbypriorwork[67,112,117,175],asdescribedbelow.

3.1CollectingPublications

Todevelopourcorpusofpapers,wefirstgeneratedaninitialcorpususingamixofamanuallyassembledcollectionofseedpapers(a“seedset”ofrelevantpapersalreadyknowntotheauthors),keywordsearchesincomputersciencedatabases,andtargetedsearchesinadditionaldatabases.Wedescribeeachofthesethreestrategiesbelow.

Wemanuallycreatedtheseedset(N=45)bycollectingpapersdescribingempiricalstudiesofRAIpracticesinindustrythatmetourcriteria(e.g.,[83,109,121,139])basedonourownknowledgeofthespace.(Allauthorshavepublishedpapersthatmeetourcriteriainthepast.)Whileassemblingthisseedset,webegantoiterateasateamonourconcreteinclusionandexclusioncriteria(seeSection3.2)andpotentialkeywordstosearch.

Followingthetraditionalsystemicliteraturereviewprocess[98,116],wethenconductedkeyword-basedsearchesinthemajorcomputersciencedatabases:ACMdigitallibrary,IEEE,DBLP,andSemanticScholar.WequeriedthesedatabasesusingkeywordsrelatedtoresponsibleAI-ensuringcoverageofthediverseterminologiescommonlyusedtodescribeRAI-relevanttopics-aswellasem-piricalresearch.Ourqueriesvariedslightlyacrossdatabasestoaccountfordifferencesinsupported

6Dengetal.

,Vol.1,No.1,Article.Publicationdate:August2026.

queryexpressivity.Forexample,weusedkeywordssuchas“empirical,”“qualitative,”“quantitative,”“interview,”and“survey”tosurfacestudiesinvolvingempiricalresearch.Wealsoincludedtopic-specifickeywordssuchas“responsibleAI,”“RAI,”“fairness,”“harm,”“ethics,”“biases,”“safety,”and“redteaming”toidentifyrelevantresearchareas.WeincludeourfullkeywordstringsinAppendixA.

Finally,assomepapersaboutRAIarepublishedindisciplinesbeyondHCIandAI,weconductedtargetedsearchesinspecializeddatabasesthatwerelikelytoincluderelevantpublications.SuchdatabasesincludedWebofScience,Sage,PubMed,andSpringer.Asmanyofthesedatabasesdonotallowforinputtingexpressivequeries,theresultsweretoonumeroustoreviewexhaustively.Asaresult,weonlyanalyzedthefirst300resultsforeachqueryontheassumptionthatthemorerelevantresultswouldappearearlierinthelist,selectedtherelevantpublications,andnotedtherelevantjournalsinwhichtheywerepublished.Then,wequeriedeachjournalindividually(withmuchsimplerqueries),andcollectedallrelevantpublications.

Withtheinitialcorpuscreatedbythesethreestrategies,wethenconductedasnowballsearch,andidentifiedadditionalrelevantpaperscitedbyorcitingtheseinitialpapersusingGoogleScholar.Forallnewpapersidentifiedthroughthisprocess,werepeatedthecitationtrackingprocess.Wethenmanuallyscreenedallretrievedpapersandfilteredoutirrelevantonesbasedonourinclusioncriteria.Thisiterativeprocesscontinueduntilnonewrelevantpaperswerefound,ensuringcomprehensivecoverageoftheavailableliterature.Throughthismethod,wecollectedintotal161papersfocusingonempiricalstudiesofRAIpracticesinindustry.

WeconductedthisprocessbetweenOctober2024andAugust2025,andincludedpublicationsfrom2018to2025.Webeganourpapersearchin2018,asthiswastheyearwhenmosttechnologycompaniesstartedactivelyengaginginresponsibleAI.2Thecut-offdateofAugust2025reflectsthemonthbeforewetransitionedfromdatacollectiontodataanalysisandpaperwriting.

3.2RefiningInclusionCriteria

Throughouttheprocessofcompilingthepaperlist,fourauthorsmetfrequentlytodiscussandrefinetheinclusionandexclusioncriteria.Toaddressourresearchquestions,wedecidedtoinclude

peer-reviewedresearchpaperspublishedbetween2018andAugust2025thatemployempiricalmethodstostudythepracticesofindustrypractitionersengagedinresponsibleAIwork.Ourinclusioncriteriaemphasizethreekeypointsthathelpedtoexcludeseveralworksthatmightotherwisehaveappearedrelevant:

•Empiricalmethods.Wefocusonstudiesthatemployempiricalmethods(e.g.,interviews,workshops,surveys)toinvestigatepractices.ThisexcludespapersthatonlydeveloporevaluatetoolsoralgorithmsforresponsibleAIwithoutengaginginempiricalstudieswithhumansubjects(e.g.,[3,133]),aswellaspapersofferingcasestudiesthatdonotinvolveempiricalmethodswithhumanparticipants(e.g.,[31,150]).

•Industrysettings.Weincludeonlystudiesofindustrycontexts.PapersonresponsibleAIthatexaminepracticesandchallengesfacedsolelybypublicsectordevelopers,academicresearchers,crowdworkers,orendusersofAIsystemsareexcludedunlesstheyinvolveindustrypractitioners(e.g.,[1,53]).

•AIpractices.WefocusspecificallyonAIpractices.Studiesthataddressconceptssuchasfairness,transparency,privacy,orsafetybutconcentrateongeneralsoftwareengineeringpracticesunrelatedtoAIorRAIareexcluded(e.g.,[42,101]).

2Theearliestpaperswefoundarefrom2019.

,Vol.1,No.1,Article.Publicationdate:August2026.

RAIPracticesinIndustry

7

3.3AnalyzingourCorpus

Toanalyzethepublicationsinourcorpus,twoauthorsfirstannotatedtheminastructuredmanner.Foreachpublication,wenotedmajormethodologicalchoices,mainandsecondaryresultsreported,andexplicitdiscussionsandrecommendationsmadebytheauthorsofthepublication.Wethenconductedathematicanalysisoftheannotationsinthreesteps.1)Thetwoauthorsstartedclusteringtheannotationsindividuallyandthenincollaborationtoforminitialthemesbasedontheknowledgetheyacquiredwhileannotatingthepublications.2)Theotherauthorswereintroducedtotheinitialthemes,andwereallocatedfivepublicationstofamiliarizethemselveswith.Individually,theywereinvitedtorecordonpost-itsrelevantannotationsabouteachpublication,andtopositionthesepost-itswithintherelevantthemesifpossible,andotherwisetoreflectonpotentiallynewclustersofpost-its.Alltheauthorsthendiscussedtogetherthisannotationandclusteringexercise,andhowthethemesshouldbeamendedandwhatnewthemesshouldbeaddedtobetterreflectthecontentofthecorpus.3)Basedonthesediscussions,thefirsttwoauthorsthenreviewedtheremainingpublicationstoenricheachthemeandconsolidatesub-themes.Inthenextsections,wedescribethethemesandsub-themesthatwelandedon.Finally,wealsocalculatedthedescriptivestatistics.

4OVERVIEWOFINDUSTRYEMPIRICALRAIPAPERS

Thissectionprovidesadescriptiveanalysisofthe161papersidentifiedinourreview,mappingthegrowth,geographicdistribution,andmethodologicaltrendswithinthefieldofempiricalresearchfocusedonindustryRAIpractices.

ThetemporaldistributionoftheliteratureindicatesasignificantandacceleratinginterestinindustrialRAI.Whilethefieldwasnascentin2019withonlytwoidentifiedpapers,thevolumeofresearchgrewsteadilyto11papersin2020and21in2022.Themostsubstantialsurgeoccurredinthelasttwoyears,with37paperspublishedin2023and49in2024.AsofAugust2025,21papershavealreadybeenpublished.

Regardingauthorshipandinstitutionalrepresentation,themajorityofthereviewedpapers(87%)involveresearchersfromacademia,whileapproximately20%featurecontributionsfromresearcherswithindustryaffiliation.Geographically,theUnitedStatesremainstheprimaryhubforthisresearchintermsofauthoraffiliations,accountingfor45.3%ofthecorpus(73/161papers).TheUnitedKingdomfollowswith16.7%,whileFinland,Canada,Germany,andtheNetherlandsalsoemergedassignificantcontributors,eachproducingapproximatelyadozenpapers.Forparticipantsdemographic,around80%fothepaper(130/161papers)includeparticipantsfromtheUnitedStates,roughly38.5%ofthecorpus(62/161papers)includedparticipantsfromtheUnitedKingdomorEurope.Only9papersincludedparticipantsfromAsia.Together,thesedistributionssuggestthatwhilethediscourseisglobal,boththeproductionofRAIscholarshipandthepopulationsitstudiesremainconcentratedwithinafewkeyWesterntechnologicalhubs.

Methodologically,interviewsweretheprimaryinstrument(n=106),involvinganaverageof27participants(=25.79,range:12–55).Surveyswereutilizedin28papers,featuringameanof201subjects;however,thesubstantialstandarddeviation(=354)reflectssignificantvariance,asseveralstudiesincludedsamplesaslargeas1,000participants.Workshop-basedresearch(n=26)targetedsmaller,moreconsistentlysizedcohorts,averaging12participants(=1.4).Notably,papersoftenincludedstudieswithmultipleresearchdesigns;forinstance,18ofthepapersutilizingworkshopsalsoincorporatedinterviewsasaprimaryorsecondarymethod.Conversely,morespecializedorresource-intensivemethodologieswererare:onlythreepapersreportedusingcontextualinquiry,andonlytwoconductedcontrolledexperiments.Thismethodologicallandscapeunderscoresacurrentresearchtrendongatheringpractitionerperspectivesthroughdirectdialogueratherthanthroughobservationalorexperimentalstudies.

8Dengetal.

,Vol.1,No.1,Article.Publicationdate:August2026.

5CURRENTPRACTICESANDTRENDSINRAIININDUSTRY

Inthissection,wedescribethepositivetrendsidentifiedacrossthecorpus.ThesetrendsreflecthowindividualAIpractitionershavedevelopedagreaterunderstandingofRAIovertime(Section

5.1,howorganizationshavegraduallyestablishedmorestructuredRAIpracticesthroughnewprocessesandfacilitatedtheiremployeesinleveragingRAIinterventions(Section5.2and5.3),andhoworganizationshaveincreasinglyengagedwithexternalstakeholdersinconduc