Skip to content

Accountability and Responsibility

Purpose: To ensure that responsibility for AI-supported decisions is clearly assigned, traceable and actionable throughout the tool/system lifecycle, and, that failures or harms can be investigated, addressed and remedied.

Organisational / Technical Measure
A. Responsibility allocation
ORG Explicit responsibility for AI tool outcomes is defined and documented (e.g., ownership of decisions, approvals and incident response)
ORG Clear escalation pathways exist for issues identified during development, or operation of the AI system
BOTH Accountability is maintained across system updates, handover, or organisational changes (no gaps in responsibility)
ORG Responsibilities are integrated into existing governance, quality, or risk-management processes rather than treated as ad-hoc ethical tasks
B. Traceability and auditability
TECH All outputs, configurations and system versions are logged in a way that allows for outside reconstruction of decision making
TECH Changes to models, data or system behaviours are documented and traceable
BOTH Records are sufficient to support internal reviews, external audits or regulatory scrutiny
ORG Processes created for reviewing audit findings and translating them into corrective action
C. Human Responsibility in practice
BOTH AI-systems are positioned clearly to all as decision support tools with clear human judgement points noted
ORG Responsibility for follow up on issues and anomalies is clear assigned
BOTH Multiple layers of accountability have been assigned to provide effective oversight
D. Learning, remediation and improvement
ORG Lessons from incidents, errors or near-misses are systematically captures and used to improve systems and processes
BOTH Feedback loops exist to ensure that accountability mechanisms evolve as systems, contexts or risks change
ORG Accountability expectations are periodically reviewed to remain aligned with organisational values, legal obligations and societal expectations

Source: AIOLIA deliverable 3.1