National foreword

This Published Document is the UK implementation of CEN/CLC ISO/IEC/TR 24027:2023. It is identical to ISO/IEC TR 24027:2021. It supersedes PD ISO/IEC TR 24027:2021, which is withdrawn.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee ART/1, Artificial Intelligence.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

This publication is not to be regarded as a British Standard.

Compliance with a Published Document cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This Published Document was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 30 November 2021.

Foreword

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.

The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).

Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not constitute an endorsement.

For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.

This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1Information technology, Subcommittee SC 42, Artificial intelligence.

Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.

Introduction

Bias in artificial intelligence (AI) systems can manifest in different ways. AI systems that learn patterns from data can potentially reflect existing societal bias against groups. While some bias is necessary to address the AI system objectives (i.e. desired bias), there can be bias that is not intended in the objectives and thus represent unwanted bias in the AI system.

Bias in AI systems can be introduced as a result of structural deficiencies in system design, arise from human cognitive bias held by stakeholders or be inherent in the datasets used to train models. That means that AI systems can perpetuate or augment existing bias or create new bias.

Developing AI systems with outcomes free of unwanted bias is a challenging goal. AI system function behaviour is complex and can be difficult to understand, but the treatment of unwanted bias is possible. Many activities in the development and deployment of AI systems present opportunities for identification and treatment of unwanted bias to enable stakeholders to benefit from AI systems according to their objectives.

Bias in AI systems is an active area of research. This document articulates current best practices to detect and treat bias in AI systems or in AI-aided decision-making, regardless of source. The document covers topics such as:

an overview of bias (5.2) and fairness (5.3);
potential sources of unwanted bias and terms to specify the nature of potential bias (Clause 6);
assessing bias and fairness (Clause 7) through metrics;
addressing unwanted bias through treatment strategies (Clause 8).

This Technical Report was approved by CEN on 17 December 2023. It has been drawn up by .

CEN and CENELEC members are the national standards bodies and national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

European foreword

The text of ISO/IEC TR 24027:2021 has been prepared by Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1 "Information technology” of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and has been taken over as CEN/CLC ISO/IEC/TR 24027:2023 by Technical Committee CEN-CENELEC/ JTC 21 “Artificial Intelligence” the secretariat of which is held by DS.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CEN-CENELEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN and CENELEC websites.

Endorsement notice

The text of ISO/IEC TR 24027:2021 has been approved by CEN-CENELEC as CEN/CLC ISO/IEC/TR 24027:2023 without any modification.

1 Scope

This document addresses bias in relation to AI systems, especially with regards to AI-aided decision-making. Measurement techniques and methods for assessing bias are described, with the aim to address and treat bias-related vulnerabilities. All AI system lifecycle phases are in scope, including but not limited to data collection, training, continual learning, design, testing, evaluation and use.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

3.1 Artificial intelligence

3.2 Bias

4 Abbreviations

5 Overview of bias and fairness

5.1 General

5.2 Overview of bias

5.3 Overview of fairness

6 Sources of unwanted bias in AI systems

6.1 General

6.2 Human cognitive biases

6.3 Data bias

6.4 Bias introduced by engineering decisions

7 Assessment of bias and fairness in AI systems

7.1 General

7.2 Confusion matrix

7.3 Equalized odds

7.4 Equality of opportunity

7.5 Demographic parity

7.6 Predictive equality

7.7 Other metrics

8 Treatment of unwanted bias throughout an AI system life cycle

8.1 General

8.2 Inception

8.3 Design and development

8.4 Verification and validation

8.5 Deployment

Bibliography

PD CEN/CLC ISO/IEC/TR 24027:2023

Information technology. Artificial intelligence (AI). Bias in AI systems and AI aided decision making

Current

Published:

29 Feb 2024