{"id":548,"date":"2026-02-28T17:33:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T16:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aiolia.eu\/?page_id=548"},"modified":"2026-02-28T19:52:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T18:52:39","slug":"findings-about-ethics-principles","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aiolia.eu\/index.php\/findings-about-ethics-principles\/","title":{"rendered":"Findings about ethics principles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Across the six European use cases, AIOLIA co-creation exercise resulted in 12 contextualized ethics principles, broken into 37 components which covered 30 unique aspects. Generally, the ethics principles in use cases align well with the overarching ALTAI framework<\/strong> but also show important patterns and deviations<\/strong> (see Table below). The direct comparison of ALTAI with the UC-specific ethics principles demonstrates that the bottom-up process conducted in AIOLIA foregrounds very similar ethics concerns as established frameworks. The high-level principled frameworks such as ALTAI thus seem well-reflected in practitioner discussions about AI ethics. However, we also observed that across the diverse contexts, different focus and emphasis was given to either overall ethics concerns (e.g., human oversight) or specific sub-aspects (e.g., auditability, deskilling, safety). Moreover, we found that the same ethics consideration could be seen as either an overarching principle or as an aspect of other ethics principles (e.g., transparency as part of non-bias), and that the same component could be linked to different ethics principles (e.g., accuracy appeared as component in human oversight and non-maleficence, while auditability emerged as a component in robustness\/reliability, non-maleficence, and accountability). Together, these observations illustrate that in AI research and design perspectives the status of principles and the exact relations between the components may be much more fluid than in more abstract AI ethics frameworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Table: Comparison of bottom-up ethics principles in AIOLIA use cases versus ALTAI principles<\/strong><\/caption>\n
UC<\/th>\n Ethics principles in use cases<\/th>\n ALTAI Principles (Requirements)<\/th>\n <\/tr>\n <\/thead>\n
UC-principles covered in ALTAI<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC2<\/td>\n Robustness and reliability<\/td>\n Req #2, Technical robustness and safety<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC5<\/td>\n Privacy and data protection<\/td>\n Req #3, Privacy and data governance<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC1, UC3<\/td>\n Transparency and explainability<\/td>\n Req #4, Transparency<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC3, UC4<\/td>\n Non-bias, fairness and non-discrimination<\/td>\n Req #5, Diversity, non-discrimination and fairness<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC1, UC4, UC6<\/td>\n Accountability and responsibility<\/td>\n Req #7, Accountability<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC-principles address sub-parts of ALTAI principles: UCs each consider disparate aspects of Req #1 or sub-aspects as distinct ethics principle<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC2<\/td>\n Human oversight<\/td>\n Req #1, Human agency and oversight<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC5, UC6<\/td>\n Autonomy\/User agency<\/td>\n Req #1, Human agency and oversight<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC2, UC3<\/td>\n Over-reliance and deskilling<\/td>\n Req #1, Human agency and oversight<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC-principles named in different ways but addressing aspects similar to ALTAI<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC1, UC6<\/td>\n Non-maleficence
Focus: Covers important aspects within General Safety<\/em><\/td>\n 		Req #2, Technical robustness and safety<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC4<\/td>\n Freedom of expression and non-censorship
Focus: Covers important aspects of Oversight<\/em><\/td>\n 		Req #1, Human agency and oversight<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC-principles named in similar ways but addressing aspects different from ALTAI<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC5<\/td>\n Safety\/Human safety
Difference: Addresses primarily safety of users rather than safety of AI system<\/em><\/td>\n 		Req #2, Technical robustness and safety<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
UC5<\/td>\n Human well-being
Difference: Addresses individual well-being, rather than broader societal or environmental issues<\/em><\/td>\n 		Req #6, Environmental and societal well-being<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n <\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Across AIOLIA use cases UC1 to UC6, 37 components emerged, covering 30 unique aspects. The table below lists the components identified for each of the ethics principles. The colour-coding illustrates the degree of inconsistency in positioning components within ethics principles. In the table, overlaps are indicated by identical colour, e.g., mentions of \u2018Privacy, consent and data protection\u2019 are highlighted in light blue, mentions of \u2018Transparency and explainability\u2019 are marked in light green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n Table: Components listed for each of the ethics principles<\/strong>
\n (Colours mark identical focus between ethics principles and components; black background marks principles without overlaps)<\/span>\n <\/caption>\n
Ethics principle from the use cases<\/th>\n Components<\/th>\n <\/tr>\n <\/thead>\n
Non-bias, fairness and non-discrimination<\/strong><\/td>\n \n Diversity<\/span>\n Representativeness\/inclusivity<\/span>\n Objectivity<\/span>\n Non-stigmatising use \/ proportionality<\/span>\n Equality and impartiality<\/span>\n Transparency of criteria<\/span>\n <\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Accountability and responsibility<\/strong><\/td>\n \n Auditability<\/span>\n Human oversight<\/span>\n Liability (responsibility)<\/span>\n Human agency and responsibility<\/span>\n Professional competence<\/span>\n Auditability and evaluation<\/span>\n Responsiveness<\/span>\n <\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Privacy, consent and data protection<\/strong><\/td>\n \n User consent and transparency<\/span>\n Data Minimisation, data use and storage<\/span>\n Third-party sharing and compliance<\/span>\n <\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Autonomy<\/strong><\/td>\n \n Transparency and User understanding<\/span>\n Privacy<\/span>\n Risk of over-attachment and dependency<\/span>\n Informed Consent<\/span>\n System Customisation<\/span>\n <\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Human oversight<\/strong><\/td>\n \n Validity \/ accuracy<\/span>\n Bias<\/span>\n Privacy<\/span>\n <\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Transparency and explainability<\/strong><\/td>\n \n Accessibility \/ access to information<\/span>\n Explainability<\/span>\n Justifiability<\/span>\n Openness<\/span>\n Documentation, traceability, and auditability<\/span>\n <\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Over-reliance and deskilling<\/strong><\/td>\n \n Dependence<\/span>\n Contestability and human oversight<\/span>\n Preservation of human skill and expertise<\/span>\n Feedback and learning loops for human adaptation<\/span>\n Organisational policies for shared responsibility<\/span>\n <\/td>\n <\/tr>\n\n
Freedom of expression, non-censorship<\/strong><\/td>\n \n Autonomy and agency<\/span>\n Proportionality<\/span>\n Non-discrimination<\/span>\n <\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Robustness\/reliability<\/strong><\/td>\n \n Auditability<\/span>\n Human oversight<\/span>\n Liability (responsibility)<\/span>\n <\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Non-maleficence<\/strong><\/td>\n \n Subsidiarity and proportionality<\/span>\n Effectiveness<\/span>\n Societal well-being<\/span>\n Validity \/ accuracy (from technical perspective)<\/span>\n Bias<\/span>\n Privacy<\/span>\n <\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Safety\/human safety<\/strong><\/td>\n \n User protection<\/span>\n Security Measures<\/span>\n Human Oversight<\/span>\n <\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Human well-being<\/strong><\/td>\n \n Promotion of User\u2019s health<\/span>\n Scope boundaries<\/span>\n Crisis Recognition<\/span>\n <\/td>\n <\/tr>\n <\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Overlaps can be found for seven of the twelve ethics principles: (1) Non-bias, fairness and non-discrimination; (2) Accountability and responsibility; (3) Privacy, consent and data protection; (4) Autonomy; (5) Human oversight; (6) Transparency and explainability; (7) Over-reliance and deskilling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most noticeable inconsistencies emerged for ethics principles that were also listed as components:<\/p>\n\n\n\n