NICE, a global leader in cloud and on-premises enterprise software solutions, announced its Robo Ethical Framework to promote responsibility and transparency in the design, creation, and deployment of AI-powered robots. With this launch, Nice emphasizes its focus on the standard and invites large adoption from the industry with the five guiding ethical principles of Nice that ensure responsible robot-human dynamics in the workplace.
Sarah Burnett, a partner at Emergence Partners, noted that NICE RPA scored well in the Ethics in Technology Assessment (ETA) framework. It is commendable that NICE has developed a Robo-Ethical framework to guard against the potential ethical ramifications of AI adoption. This is an admirable step by NICE, and other organizations should follow suit.
Nice has introduced the first set of standard principles for designing, developing, and implementing process automation in its Robotic Process Automation (RPA) platform. NICE intends to showcase the importance and positive impact of RPA in the working world by sharing the principles that govern its robotic license program.
The five guiding ethical principles of Nice which ensure the robot-human relationship in the workplace include the following:
- Robots must be designed for a positive impact: The first principle indicates that robots should be developed in order to assist humans in their progress.
- Bias-free robotics: In the second principle, robotics should be bias-free and when robots are created, their behavior should be independent of personal characteristics such as color, religion, sex, gender, age, and many others in order to ensure that they behave impartially.
- Robots have to safeguard individuals: Humans should have the capability to audit robots’ processes and decisions and to intervene in order to prevent errors. Robot algorithms, processes, and decisions must be transparent, and their conclusions should give unambiguous explanations.
- Robots must be driven by trusted data sources: This principle suggests that robots must be created to act only on the verified data from trusted sources.
- Robots must be designed with holistic governance and control: The final guiding principle states that humans must have full information about a system’s capabilities and limitations. Robotics platforms must be developed properly to protect against abuse of power and illegal access.
Barry Cooper, President, NICE Workforce & Customer Experience Group, said, “We are at an exciting time in history where with the support of AI-driven smart robots, the human workforce can deliver brand-differentiating, next-gen CX. NICE is proud to take the lead in ensuring the use of robots for the betterment of humankind, articulating the ethical principles that act as guidelines for the development of our own AI-driven innovations and, through this framework, across the RPA field. Our industry’s first Robo-ethical framework reflects our commitment to this effort, and we urge industry leaders to join us.”
