A recent report by the Obama administration on “Preparing for the future of AI” emphasises issues such as “justice, fairness and accountability”, “safetey and control”, “AI safety engineering” (see recommendations 16,17,18,19). Also, the companion report “The national AI research and development strategic plan” lists 6 strategies, among which strategy 3 says ” Thus, as AI science and technology develop, the Federal government must also invest in research to better understand what the implications are for AI for all these realms, and to address these implications by developing AI systems that align with ethical, legal, and societal goals” and strategy 4 “emphasizes the need for explainable and transparent systems that are trusted by their users”.
There could hardly be a stronger incentive to invest in responsible data science than these recommendations by the US government.