Allied for Startups welcomes the opportunity to give feedback to the pilot version of the non-Exhaustive Trustworthy AI assessment list. After sharing the questions with our network, consisting of startup associations in Europe and across the world, we have summarised our feedback in the attached document.

From the perspective of Allied for Startups, the ambition of this list should be to reduce the cost of building and maintaining Trustworthy AI for startup entrepreneurs. The list is particularly for startup entrepreneurs because startups are, by definition, creating something new with innovative processes. To that extent, questions in the self-assessment list should be as specific as possible but at the same time remain principle-based and technologically-neutral.

When looking at the list from the perspective of startup entrepreneurs, there are structural shortcomings that could be addressed by: 1) organising the list around product-development cycles; 2) ensuring the list is focused on AI-specific aspects, and not questions relating to good product design; 3) designing questions that lead to actionable recommendations for entrepreneurs and 4) re-considering the structure to ensure it is not overwhelming an entrepreneur who might be the person in charge of compliance, director of operations and HR Manager in one person. 

We hope that this feedback can constructively contribute to the debate and are available if you have any questions.

20191113_trustworthy_ai_assessment_list_feedback.pdf