AI Ethics
IBM’s multidisciplinary, multidimensional approach to trustworthy AI
Whitepaper: IBM leadership in advancing responsible AI by the World Economic Forum and the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.
AI is embedded in everyday life, business, government, medicine and more. At IBM, we are helping people and organizations adopt AI responsibly. Only by embedding ethical principles into AI applications and processes can we build systems based on trust.
Principles
The guiding values that distinguish IBM’s approach to AI ethics
The purpose of AI is to augment human intelligence
At IBM, we believe AI should make all of us better at our jobs, and that the benefits of the AI era should touch the many, not just the elite few.
Data and insights belong to their creator
IBM clients’ data is their data, and their insights are their insights. We believe that government data policies should be fair and equitable and prioritize openness.
Technology must be transparent and explainable
Companies must be clear about who trains their AI systems, what data was used in training and, most importantly, what went into their algorithms’ recommendations.
Pillars
Our foundational properties for AI ethics
Explainability
Good design does not sacrifice transparency in creating a seamless experience.
Fairness
Properly calibrated, AI can assist humans in making fairer choices.
Robustness
As systems are employed to make crucial decisions, AI must be secure and robust.
Transparency
Transparency reinforces trust, and the best way to promote transparency is through disclosure.
From principle to practice
Trustworthy AI
Discover how IBM is building trust into its products and solutions
AI Ethics Board
Putting principles into action across the organization
The Board was established as a central, cross-disciplinary body to support a culture of ethical, responsible, and trustworthy AI throughout IBM.
Our mission is to support a centralized governance, review, and decision-making process for IBM ethics policies, practices, communications, research, products and services. By infusing our long-standing principles and ethical thinking, the Board is one mechanism by which IBM holds our company and all IBMers accountable to our values.
Francesca Rossi
IBM fellow and AI Ethics Global Leader
Christina Montgomery
Vice President and Chief Privacy Officer
Our positions
Collaborations and initiatives
Wide-ranging partnerships and internal initiatives furthering AI ethics
Notre Dame-IBM Tech Ethics Lab
Addresses ethical concerns raised by the use of technologies to address society’s problems
Rome Call for AI ethics
IBM partners with the Vatican to endorse ethical guidelines around AI
Partnership on AI
Brings together diverse global voices to define best practices for beneficial AI
Center for Open Source Data and AI Technologies: Trusted AI
Maintains projects created by IBM Research that improve trust in machine learning systems
Advancing AI ethics beyond compliance
Explores how AI ethics can progress from abstract theories to concrete practices
IBM Institute for Business Value
Discover how trustworthy AI can deliver business value