Guidelines for Integrating Value Sensitive Design in Responsible AI Toolkits

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that integrating Value Sensitive Design principles into Responsible AI toolkits enhances understanding and incorporation of ethical values, supported by empirical workshops with AI researchers.

Contribution

It provides the first empirical evidence linking VSD principles with RAI toolkit development and proposes six design guidelines for integration.

Findings

VSD features facilitate understanding of ethical values in AI.

Open-ended cues empower researchers to incorporate values.

Six design guidelines for VSD integration into RAI toolkits.

Abstract

Value Sensitive Design (VSD) is a framework for integrating human values throughout the technology design process. In parallel, Responsible AI (RAI) advocates for the development of systems aligning with ethical values, such as fairness and transparency. In this study, we posit that a VSD approach is not only compatible, but also advantageous to the development of RAI toolkits. To empirically assess this hypothesis, we conducted four workshops involving 17 early-career AI researchers. Our aim was to establish links between VSD and RAI values while examining how existing toolkits incorporate VSD principles in their design. Our findings show that collaborative and educational design features within these toolkits, including illustrative examples and open-ended cues, facilitate an understanding of human and ethical values, and empower researchers to incorporate values into AI systems. Drawing on these insights, we formulated six design guidelines for integrating VSD values into the development of RAI toolkits.