Exploring the nexus of governance and AI ethics: Using systematic literature review for future direction

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming everyday life across various fields such as healthcare, space exploration, banking and finance. The rapid advancement of AI has drawn increasing attention to its potential societal impacts and has raised important ethical concerns. In recent years, governments, national organisations and international bodies have introduced several ethical standards. These principles provide foundational guidelines to shape ethical development, implementation and governance of artificial intelligence. This study seeks to provide academics with a thorough literature review that emphasises how governance mechanisms and AI ethics have highlighted areas for potential assessment and investigations. This study employed PRISMA review methodology alongside a meta-literature analysis to examine relevant studies indexed in the Scopus database, including years 2011 to 2024. The results provide significant insights into present condition of governance and AI ethics, while highlighting potential avenues for future study to develop stronger and contextually relevant frameworks for global AI governance. • Review maps how governance and AI ethics shape emerging research directions. • Uses PRISMA and meta-analysis of Scopus studies from 2011 to 2024. • Charts key governance and AI ethics themes across journals, regions and methods. • Identifies seven core research streams in governance and AI ethics. • Highlights gaps needing stronger international frameworks and future inquiry.