2. Principle 2 — Prioritizing Well being

Issue: Traditional metrics of prosperity do not take into account the full effect of A IS technologies on human well being. [Candidate Recommendation] A IS should prioritize human well being as an outcome in all system designs, using the best available, and widely accepted, well being metrics as their reference point.
Principle: Ethically Aligned Design (v2): General Principles, (v1) Dec 13, 2016. (v2) Dec 12, 2017

Published by The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems

Related Principles

4. Human centricity

AI systems should respect human centred values and pursue benefits for human society, including human beings’ well being, nutrition, happiness, etc. It is key to ensure that people benefit from AI design, development, and deployment while being protected from potential harms. AI systems should be used to promote human well being and ensure benefit for all. Especially in instances where AI systems are used to make decisions about humans or aid them, it is imperative that these systems are designed with human benefit in mind and do not take advantage of vulnerable individuals. Human centricity should be incorporated throughout the AI system lifecycle, starting from the design to development and deployment. Actions must be taken to understand the way users interact with the AI system, how it is perceived, and if there are any negative outcomes arising from its outputs. One example of how deployers can do this is to test the AI system with a small group of internal users from varied backgrounds and demographics and incorporate their feedback in the AI system. AI systems should not be used for malicious purposes or to sway or deceive users into making decisions that are not beneficial to them or society. In this regard, developers and deployers (if developing or designing inhouse) should also ensure that dark patterns are avoided. Dark patterns refer to the use of certain design techniques to manipulate users and trick them into making decisions that they would otherwise not have made. An example of a dark pattern is employing the use of default options that do not consider the end user’s interests, such as for data sharing and tracking of the user’s other online activities. As an extension of human centricity as a principle, it is also important to ensure that the adoption of AI systems and their deployment at scale do not unduly disrupt labour and job prospects without proper assessment. Deployers are encouraged to take up impact assessments to ensure a systematic and stakeholder based review and consider how jobs can be redesigned to incorporate use of AI. Personal Data Protection Commission of Singapore’s (PDPC) Guide on Job Redesign in the Age of AI6 provides useful guidance to assist organisations in considering the impact of AI on its employees, and how work tasks can be redesigned to help employees embrace AI and move towards higher value tasks.

Published by ASEAN in ASEAN Guide on AI Governance and Ethics, 2024

Preamble

Two of Deutsche Telekom’s most important goals are to keep being a trusted companion and to enhance customer experience. We see it as our responsibility as one of the leading ICT companies in Europe to foster the development of “intelligent technologies”. At least either important, these technologies, such as AI, must follow predefined ethical rules. To define a corresponding ethical framework, firstly it needs a common understanding on what AI means. Today there are several definitions of AI, like the very first one of John McCarthy (1956) “Every aspect of learning or any other feature of intelligence can in principle be so precisely described that a machine can be made to simulate it.” In line with other companies and main players in the field of AI we at DT think of AI as the imitation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. These processes include learning, reasoning, and self correction. After several decades, Artificial Intelligence has become one of the most intriguing topics of today – and the future. It has become widespread available and is discussed not only among experts but also more and more in public, politics, etc.. AI has started to influence business (new market opportunities as well as efficiency driver), society (e.g. broad discussion about autonomously driving vehicles or AI as “job machine” vs. “job killer”) and the life of each individual (AI already found its way into the living room, e.g. with voice steered digital assistants like smart speakers). But the use of AI and its possibilities confront us not only with fast developing technologies but as well as with the fact that our ethical roadmaps, based on human human interactions, might not be sufficient in this new era of technological influence. New questions arise and situations that were not imaginable in our daily lives then emerge. We as DT also want to develop and make use of AI. This technology can bring many benefits based on improving customer experience or simplicity. We are already in the game, e.g having several AI related projects running. With these comes an increase of digital responsibility on our side to ensure that AI is utilized in an ethical manner. So we as DT have to give answers to our customers, shareholders and stakeholders. The following Digital Ethics guidelines state how we as Deutsche Telekom want to build the future with AI. For us, technology serves one main purpose: It must act supportingly. Thus AI is in any case supposed to extend and complement human abilities rather than lessen them. Remark: The impact of AI on DT jobs – may it as a benefit and for value creation in the sense of job enrichment and enlargement or may it in the sense of efficiency is however not focus of these guidelines.

Published by Deutsche Telekom in Deutsche Telekom’s guidelines for artificial intelligence, May 11, 2018

IV. Transparency

The traceability of AI systems should be ensured; it is important to log and document both the decisions made by the systems, as well as the entire process (including a description of data gathering and labelling, and a description of the algorithm used) that yielded the decisions. Linked to this, explainability of the algorithmic decision making process, adapted to the persons involved, should be provided to the extent possible. Ongoing research to develop explainability mechanisms should be pursued. In addition, explanations of the degree to which an AI system influences and shapes the organisational decision making process, design choices of the system, as well as the rationale for deploying it, should be available (hence ensuring not just data and system transparency, but also business model transparency). Finally, it is important to adequately communicate the AI system’s capabilities and limitations to the different stakeholders involved in a manner appropriate to the use case at hand. Moreover, AI systems should be identifiable as such, ensuring that users know they are interacting with an AI system and which persons are responsible for it.

Published by European Commission in Key requirements for trustworthy AI, Apr 8, 2019

· Build and Validate:

1 At the build and validate stage of the AI System Lifecycle, it is essential to take into consideration implementation fairness as a common theme when building, testing, and implementing the AI system. Model building and feature selection will require engineers and designers to be aware that the choices made about grouping or separating and including or excluding features as well as more general judgments about the reliability and security of the total set of features may have significant consequences for vulnerable or protected groups. 2 During the selection of the champion model, the fairness metric assessment should be considered. The champion model fairness metrics should be within the defined threshold for the sensitive features. The optimization approach of fairness and performance metrics should be clearly set throughout this phase. The fairness assessment should be justified if the champion model does not pass the assessment. Deploy and Monitor: 1 Well defined mechanisms and protocols should be set in place when deploying the AI system to measure the fairness and performance of the outcomes and how it impacts individuals and communities. When analyzing the outcomes of the predictive model, it should be assessed if represented groups in the data sample receive benefits in equal or similar portions and if the AI system disproportionately harms specific members based on demographic differences to ensure outcome fairness. 2 The predefined fairness metrics should be monitored in production. If there is any deviation from the allowed threshold, it should be investigated whether there is a need to renew the model. 3 The overall harm and benefit of the system should be quantified and materialized on the sensitive groups.

Published by SDAIA in AI Ethics Principles, Sept 14, 2022

First principle: Human Centricity

The impact of AI enabled systems on humans must be assessed and considered, for a full range of effects both positive and negative across the entire system lifecycle. Whether they are MOD personnel, civilians, or targets of military action, humans interacting with or affected by AI enabled systems for Defence must be treated with respect. This means assessing and carefully considering the effects on humans of AI enabled systems, taking full account of human diversity, and ensuring those effects are as positive as possible. These effects should prioritise human life and wellbeing, as well as wider concerns for human kind such as environmental impacts, while taking account of military necessity. This applies across all uses of AI enabled systems, from the back office to the battlefield. The choice to develop and deploy AI systems is an ethical one, which must be taken with human implications in mind. It may be unethical to use certain systems where negative human impacts outweigh the benefits. Conversely, there may be a strong ethical case for the development and use of an AI system where it would be demonstrably beneficial or result in a more ethical outcome.

Published by The Ministry of Defence (MOD), United Kingdom in Ethical Principles for AI in Defence, Jun 15, 2022