5. Safety and Controllability

The transparency, interpretability, reliability, and controllability of AI systems should be improved continuously to make the systems more traceable, trustworthy, and easier to audit and monitor. AI safety at different levels of the systems should be ensured, AI robustness and anti interference performance should be improved, and AI safety assessment and control capacities should be developed.
Principle: Governance Principles for the New Generation Artificial Intelligence--Developing Responsible Artificial Intelligence, Jun 17, 2019

Published by National Governance Committee for the New Generation Artificial Intelligence, China

Related Principles

Reliability and safety

Throughout their lifecycle, AI systems should reliably operate in accordance with their intended purpose. This principle aims to ensure that AI systems reliably operate in accordance with their intended purpose throughout their lifecycle. This includes ensuring AI systems are reliable, accurate and reproducible as appropriate. AI systems should not pose unreasonable safety risks, and should adopt safety measures that are proportionate to the magnitude of potential risks. AI systems should be monitored and tested to ensure they continue to meet their intended purpose, and any identified problems should be addressed with ongoing risk management as appropriate. Responsibility should be clearly and appropriately identified, for ensuring that an AI system is robust and safe.

Published by Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, Australian Government in AI Ethics Principles, Nov 7, 2019

· 1.2 Safety and Controllability

Technologists have a responsibility to ensure the safe design of AI systems. Autonomous AI agents must treat the safety of users and third parties as a paramount concern, and AI technologies should strive to reduce risks to humans. Furthermore, the development of autonomous AI systems must have safeguards to ensure controllability of the AI system by humans, tailored to the specific context in which a particular system operates.

Published by Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) in AI Policy Principles, Oct 24, 2017

· 1.4. Robustness, security and safety

a) AI systems should be robust, secure and safe throughout their entire lifecycle so that, in conditions of normal use, foreseeable use or misuse, or other adverse conditions, they function appropriately and do not pose unreasonable safety risk. b) To this end, AI actors should ensure traceability, including in relation to datasets, processes and decisions made during the AI system lifecycle, to enable analysis of the AI system’s outcomes and responses to inquiry, appropriate to the context and consistent with the state of art. c) AI actors should, based on their roles, the context, and their ability to act, apply a systematic risk management approach to each phase of the AI system lifecycle on a continuous basis to address risks related to AI systems, including privacy, digital security, safety and bias.

Published by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in OECD Principles on Artificial Intelligence, May 22, 2019

Fifth principle: Reliability

AI enabled systems must be demonstrably reliable, robust and secure. The MOD’s AI enabled systems must be suitably reliable; they must fulfil their intended design and deployment criteria and perform as expected, within acceptable performance parameters. Those parameters must be regularly reviewed and tested for reliability to be assured on an ongoing basis, particularly as AI enabled systems learn and evolve over time, or are deployed in new contexts. Given Defence’s unique operational context and the challenges of the information environment, this principle also requires AI enabled systems to be secure, and a robust approach to cybersecurity, data protection and privacy. MOD personnel working with or alongside AI enabled systems can build trust in those systems by ensuring that they have a suitable level of understanding of the performance and parameters of those systems, as articulated in the principle of understanding.

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

· Safety and security

27. Unwanted harms (safety risks), as well as vulnerabilities to attack (security risks) should be avoided and should be addressed, prevented and eliminated throughout the life cycle of AI systems to ensure human, environmental and ecosystem safety and security. Safe and secure AI will be enabled by the development of sustainable, privacy protective data access frameworks that foster better training and validation of AI models utilizing quality data.

Published by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in The Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, Nov 24, 2021