The accuracy and reliability of machine learning algorithms are an important concern for suppliers of artificial intelligence (AI) services, but considerations beyond accuracy, such as safety, security, and provenance, are also critical elements to engender consumers’ trust in a service. In this paper, IBM researchers propose a supplier’s declaration of conformity (SDoC) for AI services to help increase trust in AI services.
An SDoC is a transparent, standardized, but often not legally required, document used in many industries and sectors to describe the lineage of a product along with the safety and performance testing it has undergone. The researchers envision an SDoC for AI services to contain purpose, performance, safety, security, and provenance information to be completed and voluntarily released by AI service providers for examination by consumers. Importantly, it conveys product-level rather than component-level functional testing. Researchers suggest a set of declaration items tailored to AI and provide examples for two fictitious AI services.