Success Stories: Responsible AI at Virginia Tech

Everyone is talking about AI (artificial intelligence) these days and perhaps one of the more interesting conversations being had is around how do we establish a framework and guidelines for the responsible and ethical use of the technology. Well, now, Virginia Tech has an answer.

The university has released a report that provides a framework for governance structures for AI decision-making, comprehensive training and professional development recommendations, and policy reviews for responsible adoption. The working group that developed the report spent nearly 18 months conducting environmental scans, peer institution analyses, stakeholder interviews, and community input sessions to develop the framework.

Virginia Tech’s framework establishes seven core principles including:

• Mission alignment
• Innovation for good
• Human-centered benefit
• Responsible and ethical use
• Fairness and transparency
• Human judgement and accountability
• Data security and privacy

The hope here is to create a unified body of well-considered principles that will inform processes and decisions to ...