Purpose:
At NCI, our team of data scientists, security experts and AI engineers have a shared passion for creating transformational technology to help our federal agency customers become more efficient and productive, and make our nation safer.
But before a single line of code is developed, each member of the NCI team commits to achieve or exceed the highest standards in governance and ethics (G&E), including industry standards, regulations, and all frameworks and models developed by the U.S. government.
For all of us at NCI, our highest priority is to be responsible technology innovators, for our customers, employees, and the nation. We build AI and other technologies with the purpose of improving human lives that are based on common standards such as fairness, reliability, safety, privacy, security, and inclusiveness, and underscored through transparency and accountability.
At a high level, our guiding principles are below, with emphasis on the importance of G&E and its implications for our national security and wellbeing.
Working everyday to exceed the highest standards in transparency, accountability, privacy and fairness in everything we do.
Ethics
An important, continual component of building trustworthy AI is ensuring an ethical framework for all initiatives. At NCI, we firmly believe that AI technology must be created in a way that is transparent, free of discrimination and bias, and always built to help humans make the most informed decisions and achieve their missions. We define ethics as the highest set of standards that our stakeholders expect of
us, and our model helps to ensure those standards are always upheld. We believe that different circumstances may call for different responses.
Privacy
In addition to abiding by all privacy-related government rules and regulations, NCI prioritizes the safeguarding of each individual’s data across all systems and AI development initiatives and will uphold and respect the privacy of that data.
NOTE: With the U.S. government being our primary customer, and in the interests of national security, our approach to privacy is designed to protect and serve U.S. national interests. Governance processes may vary depending upon the function of the system.
Fairness
NCI is deeply committed to the continual study of justice and fairness and creating technology without bias. Our framework ensures that all parties will make every effort to ensure fairness and justice in all systems
Safety
At NCI, we believe AI systems must be designed and developed to perform their actions safely and with respect to human life and dignity.
NOTE: With the U.S. government being our primary customer, our G&E approach is designed to protect and serve those who protect us with their lives. If required, some civilian and non-civilian systems may be developed for the specific purposes of defense, law enforcement, and national security. Governance processes may vary depending upon the function of the system.
Accountability
At NCI, our core values – Accountability, Trust, Integrity, Performance – guide who we are and help us accomplish our missions. We not only deliver exceptional products that reflect these values, but the individuals across our organization embody these values as well. For every AI initiative, we hold each other accountable for developing, implementing, and safely managing all systems and the risks associated with them.
Policies
As directed by the AI Governance Board, company policies related to AI are established by the AI Policy Committee, which includes individuals who enact and implement policies that are approved by the AI Governance Board.
Training/Onboarding
All NCI employees who are engaged in the development, design, sales, implementation, marketing, or conceptualization of the AI systems are required to abide by the NCI G&E framework and must take specific training to understand it.
Paul Dillahay, President and CEO, NCI Information Systems inc
“I am both delighted and humbled by the fact that NCI develops and implements AI products and services at scale. But with opportunity comes responsibility – and standards and governance matter. Our core commitment is to the U.S. government – our primary customer. We not only fully embrace the government’s AI governance and ethics models but try every day to exceed those expectations. We are proud to offer and operate by one of the industry’s leading and most comprehensive AI governance and ethics framework.”
GOVERNANCE AND ETHICS IN AI
AI Governance Board
The NCI AI Governance Board includes members of the NCI board of directors, management team, and AI ethics experts. Through a set of processes, policies, and procedures, the board oversees the NCI AI Policy committee, leading all employees involved in the development, design, sales, implementation, marketing, or conceptualization of the AI systems to ensure that those systems will perform safely, legally, ethically, and in accordance with human interests and national security priorities
Ethics
An important, continual component of building trustworthy AI is ensuring an ethical framework for all initiatives. At NCI, we firmly believe that AI technology must be created in a way that is transparent, free of discrimination and bias, and always built to help humans make the most informed decisions and achieve their missions. We define ethics as the highest set of standards that our stakeholders expect of
us, and our model helps to ensure those standards are always upheld. We believe that different circumstances may call for different responses.
GOVERNANCE AND ETHICS IN AI
