Measurable, testable levels of transparency, so that autonomous systems can be objectively assessed, and levels of compliance determined, are described in this standard. (The PDF of this standard is available in the IEEE GET program at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/browse/standards/get-program/page/series?id=93)

This standard is broadly applicable to all autonomous systems, including both physical and non-physical systems. Examples of the former include vehicles with automated driving systems or assisted living (care) robots. Examples of the latter include medical diagnosis (recommender) systems or chatbots. Of particular interest to this standard are autonomous systems that have the potential to cause harm. Safety-critical systems are therefore within scope. This standard considers systems that have the capacity to directly cause either physical, psychological, societal, economic or environmental, or reputational harm, as within scope. Harm might also be indirect, ...

The purpose of this standard is to set out measurable, testable levels of transparency for autonomous systems. The general principle behind this standard is that it should always be possible to understand why and how the system behaved the way it did. Transparency is one of the eight General Principles set out in IEEE Ethically Aligned Design [B21], stated as “The basis of a particular autonomous and intelligent system decision should always be discoverable.” A working group tasked with drafting this standard was set up in direct response to a recommendation in the general principles section of IEEE Ethically Aligned Design.