Alan was surprised not to get an interview for a banking management position. He had all the experience and excellent references. The bank’s artificial intelligence (AI) recruitment screening algorithm had not selected him as a potential candidate, but why? Alan is blind and uses specialized software to do his job. Could this have influenced the decision? AI solutions must account for everyone. As artificial intelligence becomes pervasive, high profile cases of racial or gender bias have emerged. Discrimination against people with disabilities is a longstanding problem in society. It could be reduced by technology or exacerbated by it. IBM believes we have a responsibility, as technology creators, to ensure our technologies reflect our values and shape lives and society for the better. We participated in the European Commission High Level Expert Group on AI and its Assessment List for Trustworthy AI (ALTAI). The ALTAI provides a checklist of questions for organizations to consider when developing and deploying AI systems, and it emphasizes the importance of access and fair treatment regardless of a person’s abilities or ways of interacting. Often, challenges in fairness for people with disabilities stem from human failure to fully consider diversity when designing, testing and deploying systems. Standardized processes like the recruitment pre-screening system Alan faced may be based on typical employees, but Alan may be unlike most candidates for this position. If this is not taken into account, there is a risk of systematically excluding people like Alan. To address this risk, we offer ways to develop AI-based applications that treat people with disabilities fairly, by embedding ethics into AI development from the very beginning in our ‘Six Steps to Fairness’. Finally, we present considerations for policymakers about balancing innovation, inclusion and fairness in the presence of rapidly advancing AI-based technologies.
By sharing these ‘six steps to fairness’, IBM aims to improve the fairness, accountability and trustworthiness of AI-based applications. Given the diversity of people’s abilities, these must be an integral part of every AI solution lifecycle.
IBM believes that the purpose of AI is to augment – not replace – human intelligence and human decision-making. We also believe that AI systems must be transparent, robust and explainable. Although the development and deployment of AI are still in their early stages, it is a critical tool whose utility will continue to flourish over time. This is why we call for a risk-based, use-case focused approach to AI regulation. Applying the same rules to all AI applications would not make sense, given its many uses and the outcomes that derive from its use. Thus, we believe that governments and industry must work together to strike an appropriate balance between effective rules that protect the public interest and the need to promote ongoing innovation and experimentation. With such a ‘precision regulation’ approach, we can answer expectations of fairness, accountability and transparency according to the role of the organization and the risk associated with each use of AI. We also strongly support the use of processes, when employing AI, that allow for informed and empowered human oversight and intervention. Thus, to the extent that high-risk AI is regulated, we suggest that auditing and enforcement mechanisms focus on evidence that informed human oversight is appropriately established and maintained. For more than 100 years, diversity, inclusion and equality have been critical to IBM’s culture and values. That legacy, and our continued commitment to advance equity in a global society, have made us leaders in diversity and inclusion. Guided by our values and beliefs, we are proud to foster an environment where every IBMer is able to thrive because of their differences and diverse abilities, not in spite of them. This does not – and should not – change with the introduction and use of AI-based tools and processes. Getting the balance right between fairness, precision regulation, innovation, diversity and inclusion will be an ongoing challenge for policymakers worldwide.