AI Ethics Checklist
Use the following questions to determine if your project requires an ethics review by the committee. If your project does not include physical interaction with people or does not involve data about people or data representing populations of people, then no special review is likely needed unless you have a particular concern that you would like to be considered.
PARC Employees can fill out the form online:
Data Classification and IRB Check
- Is your data ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) or EAR (Export Administration Regulations) controlled? If so (link to ITAR handling rules)
- Does your data con— layout: default title: AI Ethics Checklist nav_order: 2 —tain any individually identifiable health information? (link to HIPAA data handling)
- Does your data contain any personally identifiable information (PII)?
Data Considerations
| Question | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Does the data represent individuals or populations of people? | ||
| Does the data contain individual personal attributes (especially protected attributes such as race, sex, gender identity, ability status, socio-economic status, education level, religion, country of origin)? | ||
| Is the goal to make predictions about people’s behavior? | ||
| Is the goal to classify people or otherwise make predictions about them? | ||
| Is the goal to make decisions about people or populations of people that could have significant impact on their lives (e.g. job performance, judicial sentencing, fraudulent activity, etc.) |
Physical Interaction
Physical interaction should be thought of broadly including machinery and also any kind of sensors or actuators.
| Question | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Is there heavy equipment or is it operating at high speed? | ||
| For cameras, microphones, sensors, or anything that records human likenesses or activity: | ||
| Is it in a public place? | ||
| Is it hidden from anyone who might be recorded? In other words, could subjects be recorded without knowing they are being recorded? | ||
| Is it possible that any members of vulnerable populations (this could be any disadvantaged sub-segment of an overall population, e.g. children, prisoners, refugees, people facing discrimination) might be recorded? |