- Clause 1 — Purpose (eudaimonia)
- Clause 2 — Proportionality (the mean)
- Clause 3 — Human judgment (phronesis)
- Clause 4 — Duty to know and named accountability (voluntariness)
- Clause 5 — Redress (corrective justice)
- Clause 6 — Equity override (epieikeia)
- Clause 7 — Institutional learning (habituation)
- How to use these clauses
- Related articles
Seven adaptable clauses translating the concepts in this knowledge base into draft policy text for AI ordinances, agency directives, and procurement standards. Note: this is drafting material for adaptation with your legislative counsel, not legal advice.
Clause 1 — Purpose (eudaimonia) #
“No covered system shall be procured or deployed without a published statement, in plain language, of the public benefit it serves and the persons it serves. Systems whose purpose cannot be so stated shall not be deployed.”
Grounding: Eudaimonia (NE I).
Clause 2 — Proportionality (the mean) #
“Safeguards required of a covered system shall be proportionate to (a) the severity of harm from erroneous decisions, (b) the reversibility of such decisions, and (c) the capacity of affected persons to detect and contest errors. The deploying agency shall document how safeguards were calibrated against these factors and the evidence that would trigger recalibration.”
Grounding: The Golden Mean (NE II).
Clause 3 — Human judgment (phronesis) #
“For decisions materially affecting a person’s rights, benefits, liberty, or livelihood, a covered system may inform but shall not finally determine the outcome. Final authority shall rest with an official who (a) has authority to depart from the system’s recommendation, (b) has training and experience adequate to exercise that authority, and (c) is evaluated on the quality of judgment, not the rate of concurrence with the system.”
Grounding: Phronesis (NE VI).
Clause 4 — Duty to know and named accountability (voluntariness) #
“Prior to deployment, the agency shall document the system’s intended use, data provenance, tested failure modes, and performance disaggregated by affected population, and shall maintain such monitoring in operation. A named official shall certify compliance and shall be accountable for the system’s operation. No agency may deploy a covered system whose relevant behavior it is contractually or technically prevented from examining.”
Grounding: Voluntary Action and Responsibility (NE III).
Clause 5 — Redress (corrective justice) #
“Any person subject to a consequential decision involving a covered system shall receive: notice of the system’s involvement; reasons sufficient to contest the decision; review by a human official with authority to decide otherwise, within timelines proportionate to the interest at stake; and, upon a finding of error, correction, restoration of benefits wrongly withheld, and repair of records that propagated the error.”
Grounding: Corrective justice (NE V).
Clause 6 — Equity override (epieikeia) #
“Each covered system shall designate officials authorized to depart from system outputs where application of the system’s general rules would produce a result manifestly unsuited to the particular case. Overrides shall be logged and periodically reviewed; recurring overrides of a common type shall trigger review of the system’s rules.”
Grounding: Equity (NE V.10).
Clause 7 — Institutional learning (habituation) #
“The agency shall conduct scheduled independent reviews of each covered system, publish findings, conduct post-incident reviews for significant failures, and track corrective actions to completion. Recurring review shall be a condition of continued operation.”
Grounding: Habituation (NE II; X.9).
How to use these clauses #
Definitions (“covered system,” “consequential decision”) should follow your jurisdiction’s existing algorithmic accountability drafting. The clauses are designed to be severable — Clause 4 and Clause 5 are the most commonly adopted starting points.
