Ethics, Safety & Impact Assessment

Table of Contents

• Workflow
• Common Patterns
• Guardrails
• Quick Reference

Example

Scenario: Launching credit scoring algorithm for loan approvals

1. Stakeholders: Loan applicants (diverse demographics), lenders, society (economic mobility)
2. Harms: Disparate impact from historical bias, opacity preventing appeals, feedback loops perpetuating denials
3. Vulnerable groups: Racial minorities, immigrants with thin credit files, young adults, people in poverty
4. Mitigations: Fairness audit across protected classes, reason codes + appeals, alternative data (rent/utilities), human review for edge cases
5. Monitoring: Approval rate parity within 10% across groups; if disparate impact >20%, escalate to ethics committee

Workflow