Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI
In plain wordsGuidelines written for the European Commission by an expert group in 2019, listing seven requirements AI should meet to be trustworthy; they paved the way for the EU AI Act.
A non-binding document published in April 2019 by the European Commission's High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (AI HLEG), which defined trustworthy AItrustworthy AI, n.: AI that deserves people's trust because it works reliably, obeys the law, treats people fairly and can be checked, rather than AI that people merely happen to trust. as lawful, ethical and robust and set out seven key requirements: human agency and oversight; technical robustness and safety; privacy and data governance; transparency; diversity, non-discrimination and fairness; societal and environmental well-being; and accountability. The requirements rest on four ethical principles derived from fundamental rights — respect for human autonomy, prevention of harm, fairness and explicability. The Assessment List for Trustworthy AI (ALTAI), released in July 2020, turned them into a self-assessment checklist for organizations.
Our review template still follows the seven requirements of the Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI.
Origin
The 52-member AI HLEG was appointed by the Commission in June 2018; a draft was opened for consultation in December 2018 and the final guidelines were published on 8 April 2019. Their requirements reappear in legal form in the high-risk rules of the EU AI ActEU AI Act, prop. n.: The European Union's law on artificial intelligence, the first broad AI law anywhere: it bans some uses, sets strict checks for risky ones and puts duties on the makers of the biggest AI models..
Usage note
Critics, including the group member and philosopher Thomas Metzinger, accused the process of industry dominance and 'ethics washing', noting that proposed red lines were softened into 'critical concerns'.
Related
- trustworthy AItrustworthy AI, n.: AI that deserves people's trust because it works reliably, obeys the law, treats people fairly and can be checked, rather than AI that people merely happen to trust.
- AI ethicsAI ethics, n.: The study of what is right and wrong in how AI is built and used: who it may harm, who is responsible when it fails, and which values it should respect.
- human oversighthuman oversight, n.: Keeping people able to watch, understand, question and, if necessary, stop or overrule an AI system, rather than letting it act unchecked.
- EU AI ActEU AI Act, prop. n.: The European Union's law on artificial intelligence, the first broad AI law anywhere: it bans some uses, sets strict checks for risky ones and puts duties on the makers of the biggest AI models.
- OECD AI PrinciplesOECD AI Principles, prop. n.: Guidelines for trustworthy AI that governments agreed through the OECD in 2019, the first such standard agreed between governments; many later laws and agreements borrowed from them.
- explainabilityexplainability, n.: How well the reasons behind an AI system's outputs can be put into terms that people can understand, check and, if needed, challenge.
Sources
- High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (2019). Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI. European Commission, 8 April 2019.
- High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (2020). The Assessment List for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (ALTAI) for self-assessment. European Commission.
Mentioned in
human oversighthuman oversight, n.: Keeping people able to watch, understand, question and, if necessary, stop or overrule an AI system, rather than letting it act unchecked.