AI Digital Tool Product Lifecycle Governance Framework through Ethics and Compliance by Design†

The acceleration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has brought forward new digital tools that have had a wide impact across society. However, AI digital tools (such as ChatGPT, midjourney, DALL-E 2) have brought forward legal and ethical concerns. — Internationally, public, and private leaders are introducing regulatory frameworks to address data governance for such these AI digital tools (i.e., Global Data Protection Regulation, the European AI Act, Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, NIST Risk Management Framework, etc.). We recognize that these AI digital tools are a vital aspect of future technological development, but they require input from various sectors in addressing ethics and compliance design. We survey the current landscape of published AI-specific regulatory frameworks and known engineering design process methods. Using a product lifecycle approach, we also introduce a trans-disciplinary framework to address AI ethics and compliance via design. This product lifecycle approach considers several principles: a Human-Centered Design for Risk Assessment, Functional Safety and Risk Management Standardization, and Continuous Governance throughout Product Lifecycle. Establishing risk management throughout AI product lifecycles can ensure accountability for AI product use cases. In addition, by utilizing previous Functional Safety considerations we can create safety mechanisms throughout the product lifecycle of AI digital tools. Finally, establishing in-field testing for continuous governance will enable the flexibility for new compliance standards and transparency. We establish this governance framework to aid in new compliance strategies for these emerging issues with AI digital tools.