The board of Sberbank has adopted ethical principles behind development and use of artificial intelligence across Sber Group.
Principle #1: Secure AI
- The AI technologies Sber develops are secure, governable and controllable as much as possible.
- Sber takes into account the possible risks associated with the security of AI technologies and does not allow them to spiral out of control or cause harm to humans.
- The adoption of AI at Sber is never an end in itself, and the technologies the company uses must enjoy the trust of customers, employees and society.
Principle #2: Explainable AI
- Sber is responsible for the use of AI systems in its operations. Sber strives to ensure maximum transparency, internal control and predictability of the process and results of their work.
- Sber uses AI technologies in compliance with the law, including confidentiality requirements, and with respect to human privacy and trade secrets. When working with AI technologies, data security is ensured, and AI systems are never used for purposes of illegal processing of personal information of citizens or information of Sber’s corporate customers.
Principle #3: Reliable AI
- Sber ensures operational stability and reliability of AI systems.
- Sber ensures the required level of technical equipment and creates the most favorable conditions for the development and adoption of reliable AI systems at Sber.
- Sber delivers the highest standard of guarantees with regards to all human rights and freedoms when using AI, supporting only legal use of AI.
Principle #4: Responsible AI
- When introducing AI, Sber always focuses on the needs of customers and employees, while AI should be utilized to improve customer experience.
- Sber takes into account and treats all concerns amid the use of AI responsibly.
Principle #5: Fair AI
- Sber uses AI technologies fairly, objectively, and on equal terms.
- Sber strives for AI technologies to benefit the evolution of humanity.
Implementation
To implement these principles, Sber organized a working group to address the ethics of AI development and use. Part of the company’s ESG committee, the group has the following responsibilities:
- Addresses controversial ethical issues related to AI development and use
- Contributes to the building of AI-related corporate ethics in Sber employee
- Implements the principles at Sber
- After receiving in-house requests, examines the risks of using AI in Sber operations and assesses the consequences of AI adoption together with the Risk Committee of Sber Group
- Monitors how effectively the principles are being adopted and tracks their perception by society.
Mandatory for all members of Sber Group, the principles have been designed taking into account the requirements of the National Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence until 2030, which was approved by the President of Russia. Following these principles will help ensure security and enhance the confidence of society and Sber customers in AI, which the company already uses in most of its operations, products, and services.
Statement from Sber CEO and Chairman Herman Gref:
Apart from opportunities, like any other technology, artificial intelligence brings risks. By adopting the ethical principles behind AI development and use, and by creating a framework to implement them, we’re aligning with the best global practices and Russia’s National AI Development Strategy. This is a major and complicated issue, so our rules and principles will be further perfected and made more specific. We’re open to opinions of the expert community and are committed to taking them into account when updating our principles. We have not found answers to several ethical problems arising from the use of AI yet, even after studying the best global experience in AI. Therefore, our principles will certainly be improved as humanity finds the right solutions. I’d like to highlight that these are Sber’s principles and we are not imposing them on anyone outside our group. Moreover, we do not think these principles are perfect, and other companies do not have to use them in their operations.
