The Concept of Accountability in AI Ethics and Governance

Lechterman, Theodore

Publication:
The Concept of Accountability in AI Ethics and Governance

dc.contributor.author	Lechterman, Theodore
dc.contributor.ror	https://ror.org/02jjdwm75
dc.date.accessioned	2025-02-24T17:25:49Z
dc.date.available	2025-02-24T17:25:49Z
dc.date.issued	2022-12-22
dc.description.abstract	Calls to hold artificial intelligence to account are intensifying. Activists and researchers alike warn of an “accountability gap” or even a “crisis of accountability” in AI. Meanwhile, several prominent scholars maintain that accountability holds the key to governing AI. But usage of the term varies widely in discussions of AI ethics and governance. This chapter begins by disambiguating some different senses and dimensions of accountability, distinguishing it from neighboring concepts, and identifying sources of confusion. It proceeds to explore the idea that AI operates within an accountability gap arising from technical features of AI as well as the social context in which it is deployed. The chapter also evaluates various proposals for closing this gap. I conclude that the role of accountability in AI ethics and governance is vital but also more limited than some suggest. Accountability’s primary job description is to verify compliance with substantive normative principles—once those principles are settled. Theories of accountability cannot ultimately tell us what substantive standards to account for, especially when norms are contested or still emerging. Nonetheless, formal mechanisms of accountability provide a way of diagnosing and discouraging egregious wrongdoing even in the absence of normative agreement. Providing accounts can also be an important first step toward the development of more comprehensive regulatory standards for AI.
dc.description.peerreviewed	yes
dc.description.status	Published
dc.format	application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation	Lechterman, Theodore M. (Forthcoming). The concept of accountability in ai ethics and governance. In J. Bullock, Y.C. Chen, J. Himmelreich, V. Hudson, A. Korinek, M. Young, and B. Zhang (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of AI governance. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197579329.013.10
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197579329.013.10
dc.identifier.isbn	978-0197579329
dc.identifier.publicationtitle	The Oxford handbook of AI governance
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14417/3600
dc.language.iso	en
dc.page.total	20
dc.publisher	Oxford University Press
dc.relation.entity	IE University
dc.relation.school	IE Humanities
dc.rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
dc.rights.accessRights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en
dc.subject.keyword	Artificial intelligence
dc.subject.keyword	Accountability
dc.subject.keyword	Responsibility
dc.subject.keyword	Democracy
dc.subject.keyword	AI ethics
dc.subject.keyword	AI governance
dc.subject.keyword	Conceptual analysis
dc.title	The Concept of Accountability in AI Ethics and Governance
dc.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/bookPart
dc.version.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dspace.entity.type	Publication
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