Trustworthy Autonomous Systems - Helen Hastie and Subramanian Ramamoorthy

Speakers: Prof. Helen Hastie - Heriot-Watt University Prof. Subramanian Ramamoorthy - University of Edinburgh Date: 20th May 2021 Title: Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Abstract: “Trustworthy Autonomous Systems - the Human Perspective” - Helen Hastie In this talk, the UKRI "Node on Trust" will be presented, which is part of the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems UK-wide Programme. The Node on Trust is a collaboration between Heriot-Watt University, Imperial College London and The University of Manchester and will explore how to best establish, maintain and repair trust by incorporating the subjective view of human trust towards autonomous systems. I will present our multidisciplinary approach, which is grounded in psychology and cognitive science and consists of three "pillars of trust": 1) computational models of human trust in autonomous systems including Theory of Mind; 2) adaptation of these models in the face of errors and uncontrolled environments; and 3) user validation and evaluation across a broad range of sectors in realistic scenarios. "Trustworthy Autonomous Systems - Governance and Regulation" - Subramanian Ramamoorthy In order for autonomous systems to become trustworthy, we will need frameworks of informal and formal governance that must be co-designed with the systems themselves. The UKRI Research Node on Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS) Governance and Regulation will explore the design of frameworks for responsibility and accountability, and tools to help the ecosystem of developers and regulators embed these values in systems. Drawing on a diverse team including computer science and AI specialists, legal scholars, AI ethicists, as well as experts in science and technology studies and design ethnography, we are aiming at developing a novel software engineering and governance methodology for TAS. In this talk, I will give an overview of this programme of work, addressing why these questions are timely, how the issues cut across boundaries of individual agents and organisations, and some thoughts on how the methodology of MAS might play a role in this area.