Governance Principles for the New Generation Artificial Intelligence--Developing Responsible Artificial Intelligence

National Governance Committee for the New Generation Artificial Intelligence

The global development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has reached a new stage, with features such as cross-disciplinary integration, human-machine coordination, open and collective intelligence, and etc., which are profoundly changing our daily lives and the future of humanity. In order to promote the healthy development of the new generation of AI, better balance between development and governance, ensure the safety, reliability and controllability of AI, support the economic, social, and environmental pillars of the UN sustainable development goals, and to jointly build a human community with a shared future, all stakeholders concerned with AI development should observe the following principles:

1. Harmony and Human-friendly

The goal of AI development should be to promote the well-being of humankind. It should conform to human values and ethical principles, promote human-machine harmony, and serve the progress of human civilization. The development of AI should be based on the premise of ensuring social security and respecting human rights, and should prevent misuse, abuse and evil use of AI technology by all means.

2. Fairness and Justice

The development of AI should promote fairness and justice, protect the rights and interests of all stakeholders, and promote equal opportunities. Through technology advancement and management improvement, prejudices and discriminations should be eliminated as much as possible in the process of data acquisition, algorithm design, technology development, and product development and application.

3. Inclusion and Sharing

AI should promote green development to meet the requirements of environmental friendliness and resource conservation; AI should promote coordinated development by promoting the transformation and upgrading of all industries, and by narrowing regional disparities; AI should promote inclusive development through better education and training, support to the vulnerable groups to adapt, and efforts to eliminate digital divide; AI should promote shared development by avoiding data and platform monopolies, and promoting open and fair competition.

4. Respect for Privacy

AI development should respect and protect the privacy of individuals and fully protect an individual’s rights to know and to choose. Boundaries and rules should be established for the collection, storage, processing and use of personal information. Personal privacy authorization and revocation mechanisms should be established and updated. Stealing, juggling, leaking and other forms of illegal collection and use of personal information should be strictly prohibited.

5. Safety and Controllability

The transparency, interpretability, reliability, and controllability of AI systems should be improved continuously to make the systems more traceable, trustworthy, and easier to audit and monitor. AI safety at different levels of the systems should be ensured, AI robustness and anti-interference performance should be improved, and AI safety assessment and control capacities should be developed.

6. Shared Responsibility

AI developers, users and other related stakeholders should have a high sense of social responsibility and self-discipline, and should strictly abide by laws, regulations, ethical principles, technical standards and social norms. AI accountability mechanisms should be established to clarify the responsibilities of researchers, developers, users, and relevant parties. Users of AI products and services and other stakeholders should be informed of the potential risks and impacts in advance. Using AI for illegal activities should be strictly prohibited.

7. Open and Collaboration

Cross-disciplinary and cross-boundary exchanges and cooperation should be encouraged in the development of AI. Coordinated interactions should be fostered among international organizations, government agencies, research institutions, educational institutions, industries, social organizations and the general public in the development and governance of AI. With full respect for the principles and practices of AI development in various countries, international dialogues and cooperation should be encouraged to promote the formation of an international AI governance framework with broad consensus.

8. Agile Governance

The governance of AI should respect the underlying principles of AI development. In promoting the innovative and healthy development of AI, high vigilance should be maintained in order to detect and resolve possible problems in a timely manner. The governance of AI should be adaptive and inclusive, constantly upgrading the intelligence level of the technologies, optimizing management mechanisms, and engaging with muti-stakeholders to improve the governance institutions. The governance principles should be promoted throughout the entire lifecycle of AI products and services. Continuous research and foresight for the potential risks of higher level of AI in the future are required to ensure that AI will always be beneficial for human society.

Introduction