About us
In the framework of the competence platform KI.NRW, the CST is developing a certificate for artificial intelligence together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems (IAIS), the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), the University of Cologne, RWTH Aachen University, the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) as well as numerous DAX-30 and other companies from different industries such as telecommunications, finance, insurance, chemistry and trade as associated partners. The project is one of the KI.NRW flagships financed by the state ministry MWIDE.
The aim of the project is to develop procedures to examine generally accepted standards for AI systems and their verification, as well as to explore business models for an AI certification. To this end, we will write interlinked catalogs of requirements with technical, legal and ethical-philosophical criteria, focusing particularly on the following dimensions of the trustworthiness of AI: Autonomy and Control, Fairness, Transparency, Reliability, Security, and Data Protection.
Our research investigates the ethical-philosophical significance of these dimensions. The theoretical basis for this is provided by a social ontology of AI, which is also being developed in the project. In accordance with the research interest of the CST, both the double autonomy of AI and the applied concept of intelligence constitute a special research focus.
In order to make this philosophical basis operationalizable in the certification's context, use cases of AI applications are analyzed and categorized according to ethically relevant parameters. This includes a review of philosophically relevant and accessible use cases that are considered in the certification project, as well as use cases that receive special attention in the philosophical expert discussion. Based on this, ethical minimum requirements for any form of AI application in each of the established contexts, as well as domain-specific requirements, will be formulated in close exchange with our partners from the law faculty of the University of Cologne.