Chapter 1. General Principles
1. This set of norms aims to integrate ethics into the entire life cycle of AI, to promote fairness, justice, harmony, safety and security, and to avoid issues such as prejudice, discrimination, privacy and information leakage.
2. This set of norms applies to natural persons, legal persons, and other related organizations engaged in related activities such as management, research and development, supply, and use of AI. (1) The management activities mainly refer to strategic planning, formulation and implementation of policies, laws, regulations, and technical standards, resource allocation, supervision and inspection, etc. (2) The research and development activities mainly refer to scientific research, technology development, product development, etc. related to AI. (3) The supply activities mainly refer to the production, operation, and sales of AI products and services. (4) The use activities mainly refer to the procurement, consumption, and manipulation of AI products and services.
3. Various activities of AI shall abide by the following fundamental ethical norms. (1) Enhancing the well being of humankind. Adhere to the people oriented vision, abide by the common values of humankind, respect human rights and the fundamental interests of humankind, and abide by national and regional ethical norms. Adhere to the priority of public interests, promote human machine harmony, improve people’s livelihood, enhance the sense of happiness, promote the sustainable development of economy, society and ecology, and jointly build a human community with a shared future. (2) Promoting fairness and justice. Adhere to shared benefits and inclusivity, effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of all relevant stakeholders, promote fair sharing of the benefits of AI in the whole society, and promote social fairness and justice, and equal opportunities. When providing AI products and services, we should fully respect and help vulnerable groups and underrepresented groups, and provide corresponding alternatives as needed. (3) Protecting privacy and security. Fully respect the rights of personal information, to know, and to consent, etc., handle personal information, protect personal privacy and data security in accordance with the principles of lawfulness, justifiability, necessity, and integrity, do no harm to the legitimate rights of personal data, must not illegally collect and use personal information by stealing, tampering, or leaking, etc., and must not infringe on the rights of personal privacy. (4) Ensuring controllability and trustworthiness. Ensure that humans have the full power for decision making, the rights to choose whether to accept the services provided by AI, the rights to withdraw from the interaction with AI at any time, and the rights to suspend the operation of AI systems at any time, and ensure that AI is always under meaningful human control. (5) Strengthening accountability. Adhere that human beings are the ultimate liable subjects. Clarify the responsibilities of all relevant stakeholders, comprehensively enhance the awareness of responsibility, introspect and self discipline in the entire life cycle of AI. Establish an accountability mechanism in AI related activities, and do not evade liability reviews and do not escape from responsibilities. (6) Improving ethical literacy. Actively learn and popularize knowledge related to AI ethics, objectively understand ethical issues, and do not underestimate or exaggerate ethical risks. Actively carry out or participate in the discussions on the ethical issues of AI, deeply promote the practice of AI ethics and governance, and improve the ability to respond to related issues.
4. The ethical norms that should be followed in specific activities related to AI include the norms of management, the norms of research and development, the norms of supply, and the norms of use.
Published by National Governance Committee for the New Generation Artificial Intelligence, China in Ethical Norms for the New Generation Artificial Intelligence, Sep 25, 2021