Making Responsible AI the Norm rather than the Exception

Abstract: This report prepared by the Montreal AI Ethics Institute provides recommendations in response to the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) Key Considerations for Responsible Development and Fielding of Artificial Intelligence document. The report centres on the idea that Responsible AI should be made the Norm rather than an Exception. It does so by utilizing the guiding principles of: (1) alleviating friction in existing workflows, (2) empowering stakeholders to get buy-in, and (3) conducting an effective translation of abstract standards into actionable engineering practices. After providing some overarching comments on the document from the NSCAI, the report dives into the primary contribution of an actionable framework to help operationalize the ideas presented in the document from the NSCAI. The framework consists of: (1) a learning, knowledge, and information exchange (LKIE), (2) the Three Ways of Responsible AI, (3) an empirically-driven risk-prioritization matrix, and (4) achieving the right level of complexity. All components reinforce each other to move from principles to practice in service of making Responsible AI the norm rather than the exception.