IEEE P7003TM Standard for Algorithmic Bias Considerations Work in Progress Paper
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2018 ACM/IEEE International Workshop on Software Fairness IEEE P7003TM Standard for Algorithmic Bias Considerations Work in progress paper Ansgar Koene Liz Dowthwaite Suchana Seth Chair of IEEE P7003 working group IEEE P7003 working group secretary IEEE P7003 working group member Horizon Digital Economy Research Horizon Digital Economy Research Berkman Klein Center for Internet & institute, University of Nottingham institute, University of Nottingham Society, Harvard University NG7 2TU NG7 2TU MA 02138 United Kingdom United Kingdom USA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT* SA) launched the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics for Autonomous and Intelligence Systems [1] in April 2016. The The IEEE P7003 Standard for Algorithmic Bias Considerations is ‘Global Initiative’ aims to provide “an incubation space for new one of eleven IEEE ethics related standards currently under standards and solutions, certifications and codes of conduct, and development as part of the IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of consensus building for ethical implementation of intelligent Autonomous and Intelligent Systems. The purpose of the IEEE technologies”. As of early 2018 the main pillars of the Global P7003 standard is to provide individuals or organizations creating Initiative are: algorithmic systems with development framework to avoid a public discussion document “Ethically Aligned Design: A unintended, unjustified and inappropriately differential outcomes vision for Prioritizing human Well-being with Autonomous for users. In this paper, we present the scope and structure of the and Intelligent Systems” [2], on establishing ethical and IEEE P7003 draft standard, and the methodology of the social implementations for intelligent and autonomous development process. systems and technology aligned with values and ethical CCS CONCEPTS principles that prioritize human well-being in a given cultural context; • General and reference → Document types → Computing a set of eleven working groups to create the IEEE P70xx standards, RFCs and guidelines series ethics standards, and associated certification programs, for Intelligent and Autonomous systems. KEYWORDS Algorithmic Bias, Standards, work-in-progress, methods The IEEE P70xx series of ethics standards aims to translate the principles that are discussed in the Ethically Aligned Design document into actionable guidelines or frameworks that can be ACM Reference format: used as practical industry standards. The eleven IEEE P70xx A. Koene, L. Dowthwaite, and S. Seth. 2018. IEEE P7003 Standard for standards that are currently under development are: Algorithmic Bias Consideratoins. FairWare'18, May 29, 2018, • IEEE P7000: Model Process for Addressing Ethical Gothenburg, Sweden. 4 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3194770.3194773 Concerns During System Design • IEEE P7001: Transparency of Autonomous Systems 1 INTRODUCTION • IEEE P7002: Data Privacy Process • IEEE P7003: Algorithmic Bias Considerations In recognition of the increasingly pervasive role of algorithmic • IEEE P7004: Standard on Child and Student Data decision making systems in corporate and government service, Governance and growing public concerns regarding the ‘black box’ nature of • IEEE P7005: Standard on Employer Data Governance many of these systems, the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE- • IEEE P7006: Standard on Personal Data AI Agent Working Group * Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or • IEEE P7007: Ontological Standard for Ethically Driven classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full Robotics and Automation Systems citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others • IEEE P7008: Standard for Ethically Driven Nudging for than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior Robotic, Intelligent and Autonomous Systems specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]. • IEEE P7009: Standard for Fail-Safe Design of Autonomous FairWare'18, May 29, 2018, Gothenburg, Sweden and Semi-Autonomous Systems © 2018 Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM. • IEEE P7010: Wellbeing Metrics Standard for Ethical ACM ISBN 978-1-4503-5746-3/18/05…$15.00 Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems https://doi.org/10.1145/3194770.3194773 38 FairWare’18, May 2018, Gothenburg, Sweden A. Koene et al. A brief paper outlining the aims of IEEE P7003 and its Throughout the development process IEEE P7003 challenges relationship to the other IEEE P700x series standards working the developer to think explicitly about the criteria that are being groups was published in [3] and a tech-industry oriented summary used for the recommendation process and the rationale, i.e. of the eleven IEEE P70xx series standards appeared on the justification, for why these criteria are relevant and why they are technology-industry blog TechEmergence [4]. appropriate (legally and socially). Documenting these will help In this paper we present a more detailed overview of the the business respond to possible future challenges from scope, structure and development process of the IEEE P7003 customers, competitors or regulators regarding the Standard for Algorithmic Bias Considerations [5]. recommendations produced by this system. At the same time, this IEEE P7003 is aimed to be used by people/organizations who process of analysis will help the business to be aware of the are developing and/or deploying automated decision (support) context for which this recommendation system can confidently be systems (which may or may not involve AI/machine learning) that used, and which uses would require additional testing (e.g. age are part of products/services that affect people. Typical examples ranges of customers, types of products). would include anything related to personalization or individual assessment, including any system that performs a filtering 2 SCOPE function by selecting to prioritize the ease with which people will The IEEE P7003 standard will provide a framework, which find some items over others (e.g. search engines or helps developers of algorithmic systems and those responsible for recommendation systems). Any system that will produce different their deployment to identify and mitigate unintended, unjustified results for some people than for others is open to challenges of and/or inappropriate biases in the outcomes of the algorithmic being biased. Examples could include: system. Algorithmic systems in this context refers to the Security camera applications that detect theft or suspicious combination of algorithms, data and the output deployment behaviour. process that together determine the outcomes that affect end users. Marketing automation applications that calibrate offers, Unjustified bias refers to differential treatment of individuals prices, or content to an individual’s preferences and based on criteria for which no operational justification is given. behaviour. Inappropriate bias refers to bias that is legally or morally etc… unacceptable within the social context where the system is used, e.g. algorithmic systems that produce outcomes with differential The requirements specification provided by the IEEE P7003 impact strongly correlated with protected characteristics (such as standard will allow creators to communicate to users, and race, gender, sexuality, etc). regulatory authorities, that up-to-date best practices were used in The standard will describe specific methodologies that allow the design, testing and evaluation of the algorithm to attempt to users of the standard to assert how they worked to address and avoid unintended, unjustified and inappropriate differential impact eliminate issues of unintended, unjustified and inappropriate bias on users. in the creation of their algorithmic system. This will help to Since the standard aims to allow for the legitimate ends of design systems that are more easily auditable by external parties different users, such as businesses, it should assist them in (such as regulatory bodies). assuring citizens that steps have been taken to ensure fairness, as appropriate to the stated aims and practices of the sector where the Elements include: algorithmic system is applied. For example, it may help customers a set of guidelines for what to do when designing or using of insurance companies to feel more assured that they are not such algorithmic systems following a principled getting a worse deal because of the hidden operation of an methodology (process), engaging with stakeholders (people), algorithm. determining and justifying the objectives of using the As a practical example, an online retailer developing a new algorithm (purpose), and validating the principles that are product recommendation system might use the IEEE P7003 actually embedded in the algorithmic system (product); standard as follows: a practical guideline for developers to identify when they Early in the development cycle, after outlining the intended should step back to evaluate possible bias issues in their functions of the new system IEEE P7003 guides the developer systems, and pointing to methods they can use to do this; through a process of considering the likely customer groups, in benchmarking procedures and criteria