What to Expect From IEEE 7000: The First Standard for Building Ethical Systems

Abstract

IEEE 7000™ is a long-awaited standard promising organizations the “ethical specs” <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">[1]</xref> that seem to be overdue in engineering roadmaps. One hundred and fifty-four experts were, at some point, involved in IEEE 7000, 34 being Workgroup (WG) members. Seventy-seven experts balloted for its publication in 2021 (93% acceptance rate). In this article, I want to give a short overview of what to expect from IEEE 7000 and how it came about. The 79-page normative standard, involved hundreds of online discussions over five years, engaging self-selected individuals stemming from many cultures (Europe, Middle East, the United States, Australia, and Latin America) and a broad set of professional backgrounds (engineers, philosophers, theologists, consultants, etc.). There was one core question to be answered: How can tech organizations of whatever size and industry build more ethical systems? But what is “ethical?” When laymen hear the word “ethics,” they easily confound it with “morals.” This is not how the IEEE 7000 WG refers to it. Instead, IEEE 7000 guides developers in making their products and services compatible with the ethical values of the communities in which technical products and services are placed and used. The standard gives step-by-step guidance to organizations on how to <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">care</i> for stakeholder values from the early conception of a system all through its development (and depending on its reading, during later deployment). Organizations that envision building technology for humanity (instead of only profit) get an answer to the Kantian question “How should I act”? I, the engineer, and I, the manager. How should the organization prepare for an IT project? How should it elicit and prioritize values? How can it ensure that prioritized values are ending up in the system-of-interest (SOI)? And how can the organizational and technical engineers transparently share their value mission and effort?