Over the last few years, various public, private, and NGO entities have adopted a staggering number of non-binding ethical codes to guide the development of artificial intelligence. However, this seemingly failed to drive better ethical practices within AI organizations. In light of this observation, this paper aims to reevaluate the roles the ethics of AI can play to have a meaningful impact on the development and implementation of AI systems. In doing so, we challenge the notion that AI ethics should focus primarily on instilling ethical principles in practitioners within AI organizations, as well as the claim that AI ethics can only lead to ethics washing. We propose a two-pronged institutionalist approach to AI ethics, focusing on shaping organizational decision-making processes and emphasizing the necessity of binding legal regulations. First, we argue that AI ethics should give priority to institutional design over the internalization of ethical principles by individual practitioners. We then contend that legally binding rules are needed to this end, both as a motivation for organizations and to contribute to the semantic determination of high-level ethical principles. We then show that promising proposals to operationalize ethical principles require the backing of binding legal norms to be effective. We conclude by highlighting the potential of AI ethics to contribute meaningfully to legislative innovation in AI governance.
