Standardized Reporting

Summary: Organizations should establish standardized processes and templates for informing different stakeholders about the development process and product design of AI systems.

Type of pattern: Governance pattern

Type of objective: Trustworthiness

Target users: Management teams

Impacted stakeholders: Employees, AI users, AI impacted subjects, AI consumers

Lifecycle stages: All stages

Relevant AI ethics principles: Human, societal and environmental wellbeing, human-centered values, fairness, privacy protection and security, reliability and safety, transparency and explainability, contestability, accountability

Mapping to AI regulations/standards: EU AI Act, ISO/IEC 42001:2023 Standard.

Context: AI is a high-stakes technology that requires careful oversight to manage RAI risks and build public trust in AI. Trust is a fundamental element for the widespread adoption of AI applications across various domains. Ensuring that all stakeholders are informed about the development and use of AI systems is crucial to increase trust.

Problem: How can organizations proactively accept the oversight from governments and the public?

Solution: Organizations can establish standardized processes and templates for informing stakeholders (such as RAI governors, AI users, and consumers) about the development process and product design of AI systems. RAI laws and regulations may require such reporting to ensure the transparency and explainability of AI systems. AI product providers may be required to file with the governments for impact assessment when launching new AI products and to inform users when AI is being used to interact with them and explain the purposes and design of AI systems.

Benefits:

  • Consistency: Standardized reporting ensures all the reports follow a uniform format and structure, making it easier for stakeholders to navigate and understand the information.
  • Regulatory compliance: In some regions, standardized reporting is required to meet legal and regulatory compliance requirements.

Drawbacks:

  • Cost: Standardized reporting can be resource-intensive and may incur additional cost to meet the disclosure requirements.
  • Information overload: If there is too much information being reported, it may be difficult for stakeholders to understand and process all the reported information.

Related patterns:

  • RAI risk assessment: The results of RAI risk assessment can be an important part of standardized reporting.

Known uses: