Porter, Zoe, Habli, Ibrahim orcid.org/0000-0003-2736-8238, McDermid, John Alexander orcid.org/0000-0003-4745-4272 et al. (1 more author) (2024) A principles-based ethics assurance argument pattern for AI and autonomous systems. AI and Ethics. pp. 563-616. ISSN 2730-5961
Abstract
An assurance case is a structured argument, typically produced by safety engineers, to communicate confidence that a critical or complex system, such as an aircraft, will be acceptably safe within its intended context. Assurance cases often inform third party approval of a system. One emerging proposition within the trustworthy AI and autonomous systems (AI/AS) research community is to use assurance cases to instil justified confidence that specific AI/AS will be ethically acceptable when operational in well-defined contexts. This paper substantially develops the proposition and makes it concrete. It brings together the assurance case methodology with a set of ethical principles to structure a principles-based ethics assurance argument pattern. The principles are justice, beneficence, non-maleficence, and respect for human autonomy, with the principle of transparency playing a supporting role. The argument pattern—shortened to the acronym PRAISE—is described. The objective of the proposed PRAISE argument pattern is to provide a reusable template for individual ethics assurance cases, by which engineers, developers, operators, or regulators could justify, communicate, or challenge a claim about the overall ethical acceptability of the use of a specific AI/AS in a given socio-technical context. We apply the pattern to the hypothetical use case of an autonomous ‘robo-taxi’ service in a city centre.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2023 |
Keywords: | Ethics,Ethical Principles,Assurance,AI,Autonomous Systems |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Computer Science (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 07 Jun 2023 09:30 |
Last Modified: | 19 Mar 2025 00:11 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-023-00297-2 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s43681-023-00297-2 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:200084 |
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Filename: s43681_023_00297_2.pdf
Description: A principles‑based ethics assurance argument pattern for AI and autonomous systems
Licence: CC-BY 2.5