Responsible use of citizen-centric AI

Abstract

In the digital age, the integration of AI into government processes holds immense potential to enhance efficiency, improve service delivery, support decision-making, and foster innovation. However, with this potential come significant ethical, societal, technical and legal considerations. As AI systems become more pervasive in government, it is imperative to ensure that they are designed, deployed, and governed responsibly, with a primary focus on benefiting citizens and society as a whole.

In order for AI systems to truly serve the interests of UK society, they need to be designed, developed, and deployed with a citizen-centric approach in mind. This entails prioritising the needs, preferences, and rights of individual citizens while upholding principles of fairness, transparency, explainability, and accountability. To address these challenges and opportunities, we propose the adoption of the Responsible use of Citizen-Centric AI (RECA) framework within the UK government and other institutions. This framework is informed by our established line of research on responsible and trustworthy AI systems [9], on citizen-centric AI systems [12], and our response to the United Nations (UN) report on governing AI for humanity [11], as well as various discussions with key stakeholders in the UK and international representatives [13]. The RECA framework is grounded in four key principles: (1) citizen awareness, (2) citizen beneficence, (3) citizen sensitivity, and (4) citizen auditability. By adhering to these principles, the government and other public institutions can ensure that AI systems contribute to societal wellbeing while mitigating potential risks and harms.

RECA can be used to evaluate AI systems that the UK government employs (that is, in using externally developed AI tools and applications) or to be considered during the design and development of those AI systems that government departments co-develop internally.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Sarah Kiden: orcid.org/0000-0003-2651-9620

ORCID for Vahid Yazdanpanah: orcid.org/0000-0002-4468-6193

ORCID for Sebastian Stein: orcid.org/0000-0003-2858-8857

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