IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2020 - 18

or (2) Raising concerns about the social impact of AI. We will describe both
approaches in the current section, as
well as giving examples of notable
initiatives and projects which have adopted either of the approaches.1

AI and the IEEE report for Ethically
Aligned Design.

For instance, it includes a proposition for auditing and validating the
use of AIS using concrete frameworks and certifications in order to
prevent biases and discrimination.
Specific steps were also proposed
for ensuring the protection of democracy and reducing the environmental footprint of AI, all within the
framework of a democratic and citizen-led process. This is important
given that the effects of AI will permeate all levels of society, from programmers and engineers who write
the code, to leaders who make laws
governing its use and development,
to businesses that will make products with it to be used by all. The
process creating the Montreal declaration was consequently the keystone to building a way of including
all of these different stakeholders in
the elaboration of an ethical AI, and
paves the way for subsequent work
on the topic.

The Montreal Declaration for
a Responsible Development of
Artificial Intelligence

One of the most notable approaches to establishing guidelines for AI
deployment is the Montreal DeclaraThe topic of ethical research and
tion for a Responsible Development
practice in technology has been
of Artificial Intelligence, developed
gaining momentum in different corin 2017 and revised in 2018 based
ners of the computing community in
on public feedback. It was created
recent years, and the various initiaunder the premise that since AI will
tives that have been proposed are
eventually affect all sectors of sociindicative of the interest and the
ety, it requires principles to guide
its development to ensure
its adherence to human
values and social progress.
The resulting Declaration
has ten principles, ranging
As researchers and engineers
from protection of privacy
to equal representation,
become more conscious of
with some principles touchthe social impacts of machine
ing responsibility and ethics
directly; for instance, the
learning, we have the opportunity
principle of Prudence stipulates that "Every person inand duty to make our voices heard.
volved in AI development
must exercise caution by
concern that many members share.
anticipating, as far as possible, the
For instance, in the United States,
adverse consequences of AIS [Artithe Association for Computing Maficial Intelligent Systems] use and
chinery (ACM) has proposed a Code
by taking the appropriate meaof Ethics and Professional Conduct,
sures to avoid them." These printo be followed by all members of
ciples were defined after extensive
the association and to guide them
debate and dialogue between both
in their usage of computer science
specialists and non-specialists from
[16]. A similar initiative was underdifferent domains and parts of the
taken by the Royal Statistical Sociworld to ensure representation and
ety (RSS) in the United Kingdom,
cohesion. The overall aim of the
which has created a practical guide
declaration was to spark public defor practitioners regarding the ethibate and to encourage a progressive
cal use of mathematics [35]. Here
and inclusive orientation to the dewe address the two most relevant
velopment of AI.
and extensive initiatives to establish
However, the Montreal declaraethical guidelines for AI research
tion goes further than theoretical
and practice: the Montreal Declaraethical principles, proposing recomtion for Responsible Development of
mendations to accomplish an ethical digital transition that includes
all of the different levels of society,
1
For a more complete overview of different global
ML ethics initiatives, see a recent review in [21].
from researchers to policy-makers.

Defining Principles for
Practicing AI Responsibly

18

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

IEEE Ethically Aligned Design
A more recent effort, initiated by
the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent
Systems, carried out an in-depth
study on the issue of the ethics surrounding the design of AI systems
[40]. In particular, aspects that are
relevant to the topics covered in
the present paper include: the usage of autonomous and intelligent
systems (A/IS) in service to sustainable development for all, and more
specifically for the attainment of the
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [42]. The authors
of the study specifically underline
the potential of AI to contribute to
resolving some of the world's most
urgent problems, such as climate
change and poverty, given the necessary will and orientation towards
these problems. Furthermore, they
highlight the fact that despite their
great potential, current AI deployment and development is currently
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MARCH 2020
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2020

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