This month, our trustees tackle the topic of trustworthy AI. Joining the conversation this time are: Tom Dietterich (Oregon State University), Sabine Hauert (University of Bristol), and Sarit Kraus (Bar-Ilan University). Sabine Hauert: There was a big trustworthy autonomous systems conference a few weeks back in London, and on the back of that they've launched a big responsible AI portfolio. I know Europe has been focusing on trustworthiness and how responsible these algorithms are. Deploying these systems in a responsible way is something that people are thinking about more and more. It was interesting at that conference because, while a lot of it had to do with ethics, interfacing with humans and thinking holistically about these algorithms, there was also a strong military track discussing how you make military tools trustworthy. I always find it quite interesting that trustworthiness and responsible AI mean completely different things to different communities.

In order to provide committed actors with a practical tool to design, develop and manage artificial intelligence systems that respect fundamental human rights, Numeum, together with its partners, is launching the Ethical AI project. This initiative is based on three major actions: a manifesto to formalize the commitment of the players, a practical guide to rely on a methodology and tools, and a community of members who will have the opportunity to exchange ideas to progress. At the end of 2020, six collective intelligence sessions were conducted and brought together 360 participants (coders, developers, data scientists, data architects, data engineers, AI product managers, testers, DPOs or lawyers, etc.). They all participated in workshops to dissect the main theoretical principles of ethical AI and to imagine ways to apply them in practice to the various components of the technology (algorithm, data, etc.). These six exchanges resulted in a Practical Guide that proposes a useful method for operationalizing the major ethical principles during the design, development and deployment of AI solutions. It is this guide that is the anchor of the Ethical AI initiative.