- The Fairness, Ethics, Accountability, Transparency (FEAT) principles and the Veritas initiative are part of Singapore’s National AI Strategy
- Element AI said that its involvement will aim to include a range of research and development activities
Element AI, developer of artificial intelligence-powered (AI) solutions and software has announced a collaborative relationship with the Veritas Consortium led by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to help in developing a framework for driving the responsible adoption of AI in the financial services industry. This consortium has a mandate to implement the FEAT principles (Fairness, Ethics, Accountability, Transparency) as crucial considerations for the deployment of artificial intelligence and data analytics (AIDA) technologies within financial institutions.
Singapore’s National AI Strategy
The FEAT principles and the Veritas initiative are part of Singapore’s National AI Strategy. Element AI said that its involvement will aim to include a range of research and development activities in support of this mandate. One of such first initiatives will be taken in collaboration with United Overseas Bank (UOB). They will develop a set of quantifiable metrics for financial institutions to assess the extent to which data and the algorithms or models used to evaluate credit scoring for unsecured lending meet the principles of fairness.
Johnson Poh, head of group enterprise AI and data science, data management office, UOB, said, “At UOB, we uphold the highest standards in safeguarding and using data appropriately for our customers and have in place a governance framework to ensure the ethical use of data within the Bank. As a founding member of the Veritas initiative and through our collaboration with Element AI, we aim to develop a set of metrics which could be used as an industry benchmark that upholds the Fairness principle in the area of credit scoring for unsecured lending.”
Open source the code for the metrics for AI practitioners
The consortium’s goal is to publish a research report on the project. It also aims to open source the code for the metrics for AI practitioners to review and then use within their own organisations. The report is expected to be published in the second half of 2020.
Jean-François (JF) Gagné, CEO and founder of Element AI said, “The Veritas initiative perfectly demonstrates why Singapore continues to be a global leader in applied AI. The MAS approach to nurturing innovation and partnering with industry, whilst setting the standards and principles required for the responsible deployment of technology, is aspirational. Element AI is honoured to act as an advisor to the MAS and as a partner to UOB on this important initiative of global significance.”
