IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 28

Soft Law Governance of Artificial Intelligence
institution for what it is, rather than specific initiatives
for what they deliver (dynamic trust) and whether
they are being recommended or validated by others
(distributed trust) [17], [24]. Societal trends in trust
in institutions, technology, and expertise will all play
a role in credibility of multistakeholder initiatives,
including efforts to develop soft law for AI.
These recent developments should be on top of
mind for any initiative aiming to develop credibility.
They remind us that credibility needs to be earned
on an ongoing basis, that stakeholders need to have
a voice, and that dynamics affecting stakeholders'
matter and how their voice is used may evolve over
time. They also reinforce that participating through
dialogue and relationships across the ecosystem,
with institutional peers, stakeholder organizations,
intermediaries, and even competitors will be key
to success. Soft law initiatives will need to stay agile
and resilient-and take in new forms of feedback,
stakeholders, and participants.
Soft law for AI-strategic planning
considerations for credibility
Foundations for credibility in soft law initiatives
The last decade has brought extensive research
across one of the most important characteristics of
credibility, that is, legitimacy. Its examination in
the world of multistakeholder initiatives has drawn
from philosophy, sociology, economics, policy,
organization theory, governance, law, and more
[14], [25], [26].
Measured against traditional constitutional or
democratic norms, there are serious weaknesses in
the legitimacy arguments for soft law intended to
bind specific organizations or protect specific beneficiaries,
especially those not involved in creating
it [26], [27]. Nonetheless, even in the absence of
a normative constitutional designation, legitimate
initiatives can, and often do, develop that are perceived
to make sense and have value to its target
communities [27]. These initiatives are more likely
to be judged by their content, adoption, and impact.
Though history suggests that initiative proponents
should widen their group of stakeholders and beneficiaries
beyond typical tech insiders and develop
engagement necessary to earn credibility across
those communities.
Crucially, it is clear from all these studies that there
is not a single, deterministic checklist or architecture
28
to drive credibility or legitimacy for an AI soft law
initiative [27], [28]. Equally clearly, credibility is
fundamentally " relational " and will hinge on who
the key stakeholders are, how the initiative relates to
them, and how it is actually adopted by appropriate
participants.
For those aiming to develop the credibility of
an initiative, this is not a theoretical problem, but a
practical one-what resources to invest and what
steps are needed to establish an initiative that has
the necessary credibility to be effective. Soft law initiatives
can take years to mature. Successes can drive
responsible behavior and advance trust in a technology
or an industry, and failures can set back not only
an initiative, but also other multistakeholder efforts
that may cover similar topics or sectors.
Though no formulaic guidance exists to advance
credibility for AI soft law, we can learn from frameworks
designed to evaluate other nonstate actions
intended to guide behavior. For example, Mittelstadt
[29] has advanced a set of questions to assess ethical
principles for AI based on their fit for purpose, recognizing
that those lofty principles need to be translated
into specific actions, implemented effectively,
and above all form part of an ongoing learning and
development process. Drawing on these questions
and other frameworks meant to assess credibility of
standards [28], [30], [31], we can identify specific
clusters of attributes or areas to focus on in an initiative's
life cycle:
* Participants-Who is creating the initiative, who
is it intended to bind or benefit, and why?
* Process-What will ensure fairness, transparency,
and accountability in the development and
implementation? What are the mechanisms of
ongoing feedback, learning, and improvement?
* Output-How is the output evaluated, implemented,
and made available? What is the mechanism
to provide assurance that the output is
being observed by those who commit to it and
that there are consequences if it is not?
For those aiming to develop AI soft law initiatives,
considering these factors in an ongoing dialogue
across the full set of stakeholders can provide a
grounding point to advance the credibility of those
initiatives.
Simply building a soft law initiative does not
mean it will succeed on its own. A key element of
a credible AI soft law-maybe the most important
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021

Contens
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - Cover1
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - Cover2
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - Contens
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 2
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 3
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 4
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 5
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 6
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 7
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 8
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 9
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 10
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 11
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 12
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 13
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 14
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 15
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 16
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 17
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 18
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 19
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 20
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 21
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 22
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 23
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 24
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 25
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 26
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 27
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 28
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 29
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 30
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 31
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 32
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 33
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 34
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 35
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 36
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 37
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 38
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 39
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 40
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 41
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 42
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 43
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 44
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 45
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 46
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 47
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 48
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 49
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 50
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 51
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 52
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 53
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 54
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 55
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 56
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 57
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 58
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 59
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 60
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 61
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 62
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 63
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 64
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 65
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 66
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 67
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 68
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 69
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 70
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 71
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 72
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 73
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 74
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 75
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 76
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 77
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 78
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 79
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 80
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 81
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 82
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 83
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 84
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 85
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 86
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 87
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 88
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 89
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 90
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 91
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 92
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 93
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 94
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 95
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 96
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 97
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 98
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 99
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 100
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 101
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 102
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 103
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 104
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 105
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 106
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 107
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 108
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 109
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 110
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 111
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 112
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 113
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 114
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - Cover3
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2013
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com