How standards foster global innovation and trust

"This policy brief describes the unique and valuable roles that international standards play in supporting responsible AI development and governance. International standards: • Establish a common language and consensus-built definitions that accelerate innovation by enabling more productive collaboration among AI developers, deployers, governments and regulators, and other important stakeholders. • Set out consensus-driven metrics, benchmarks, and technical requirements that can facilitate transparency, consumer choice, and trade, while remaining adaptable to the diverse contexts in which AI systems are deployed. • Translate high level principles for responsible AI into concrete, actionable steps and technical requirements, supporting effective implementation of responsible AI frameworks. • Offer detailed specifications and guidelines that can be used by regulators to improve the technical rigor and international interoperability of AI-related regulation, improving governance in a way that facilitates trade and eases compliance for AI developers. • Underpin robust conformity assessment procedures that enable verification of technical and organizational requirements, helping to improve the reliability, quality, and trustworthiness of AI systems. In short, international standards provide a technical foundation for advancing trustworthy AI innovation and governance." ... As AI technologies and application contexts continue to evolve, international standards can provide a robust foundation for responsible AI innovation that serves the global public interest. Strengthened collaboration between standards development organizations, national standards bodies, governments and regulators, and civil society can help ensure that AI's transformative potential benefits people around the world while minimizing its risks." ISO - International Organization for Standardization

💡 Are Compliance Standards Killing Innovation, or Are We Framing Them Wrong?💡 Compliance standards are often viewed as barriers to creativity, especially in fields like artificial intelligence (AI). But frameworks like ISO42001 are not obstacles as much as they are enablers. They provide the structure needed to innovate responsibly, ensuring organizations can offer accountability, trust, and scalability. For leaders implementing an Artificial Intelligence Management System (AIMS), conformance to the standard can help establish a foundation for trustworthy AI systems, reducing risks and enabling sustainable innovation that also aligns with the OECD.AI’s Principles. ➡️ How ISO42001 Drives AI Innovation 1. Clarity Creates Confidence 🔹 Challenge: Teams hesitate to deploy AI when risks like bias or privacy breaches remain unresolved. 🔹ISO42001 Solution: Establishes clear processes for risk management, documentation, and decision traceability. 🔸Impact: Developers can innovate confidently within a framework that reduces uncertainty. 2. Risk Management Enables Bold Ideas 🔹Challenge: AI development involves unpredictable outcomes and operational risks. 🔹ISO42001 Solution: Provides structured tools to identify, mitigate, and monitor risks throughout the AI lifecycle. 🔸Impact: Teams can pursue ambitious ideas with safeguards in place, balancing creativity with accountability. 3. Accountability Builds Trust 🔹Challenge: Stakeholders demand transparency and fairness in AI decision-making. 🔹ISO42001 Solution: Embeds accountability mechanisms, ensuring decisions are traceable and ethical. 🔸Impact: Encourages collaboration and risk-taking, knowing ethical considerations are part of the process. 4. Collaboration Fuels Innovation 🔹Challenge: Innovation often stalls when teams operate in silos. 🔹ISO42001 Solution: Defines clear roles and responsibilities, enabling cross-functional alignment. 🔸Impact: Teams work together more effectively, addressing risks early and accelerating progress. ➡️ AIMS as a Platform for Innovation ISO42001 creates the environment where AI innovation thrives. By integrating ethical considerations, risk management, and lifecycle monitoring, you can scale your AI solutions responsibly while fostering creativity. 🔹Example: AIMS ensures challenges like bias or transparency are proactively addressed, allowing developers to focus on building impactful AI systems. 🔸Long-term Value: Innovations are not just scalable but also aligned with societal and organizational goals. ➡️ Rethinking Compliance Governance/Management frameworks like ISO42001 are not roadblocks, they are opportunities. They establish trust, reduce uncertainty, and provide the structure you need to innovate responsibly. 🔸Key Takeaway: Success in AI isn’t defined by how quickly systems are built, but by how effectively they deliver ethical, sustainable value. A-LIGN #TheBusinessofCompliance #ComplianceAlignedtoYou ISO/IEC Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The IEEE Humanoid Study Group just released its comprehensive report on robotics standards. With 160+ humanoid models from 120+ companies globally, we're at a critical juncture where the gap between promise and deployment isn't just technical - it's regulatory. Standards are the invisible infrastructure that enables entire industries to scale. From USB ports, internet protocols, or aviation safety rules, without standards, markets fragment, innovation stalls, and consumer trust evaporates. For humanoids, standards will determine whether a small or large market gets unlocked in the mid-term. Three Key Findings from the Report: 1️⃣ Classification Crisis -- Current standards assume fixed-base robots. Humanoids break every assumption - they're machines that need multi-dimensional classification from physical capabilities/form-factors, autonomy levels and application domains (warehouse application is not the same as eldercare)...Without a common taxonomy, we can't even discuss safety meaningfully. 2️⃣ The Stability Paradox -- A 66kg robot falling isn't just damage - it's life-threatening. Yet NO current standards account for actively balancing systems. Key insight: We don't need 100% stability (humans fall too) - we need quantifiable risk thresholds. ISO/AWI 25785 just launched as first bipedal safety standard New metrics needed: margin of stability, capture point, disturbance recovery 3️⃣ The Overtrust Problem -- The report includes a survey of 50+ experts, which revealed that humans expect emotional intelligence from humanoids. This creates unprecedented safety risks: --> Appearance drives false capability assumptions --> Users expect empathy, especially with vulnerable populations --> Mismatch between expectations and reality endangers trust 💡 Most compelling finding: Users interviewed wanted emotional intelligence MORE than perfect task execution. This reshapes development priorities. My Take: As someone working at the Edge AI/robotics intersection, standards aren't paperwork - they're the gateway to scale. The report's framework and SDO collaboration call to action [ASTM for test methods, IEEE for performance metrics, ISO for safety thresholds]; is a path worth trodding. 👏 Kudos to Aaron Prather for putting this out there: https://lnkd.in/e_x_aVpX #Robotics #HumanoidRobots #Standards #EdgeAI #Safety #IEEE Ali Shafti Joe Smallman Riccardo Secoli, PhD Max Middleton Maria J. Alonso Gonzalez, PhD Dev Singh Leila Takayama Vanessa Evers Allison Okamura Bern Grush Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem Khalfan Belhoul Pascale Fung Michael Spranger Paolo Pirjanian Ram Devarajulu Tim Ensor Sally Epstein Tom Shirley

I'm proud to share our latest work in Science on quantum governance. It was a pleasure to collaborate with the brilliant Mateo Aboy, Urs Gasser, and I. Glenn Cohen on this critical topic. https://lnkd.in/gjpVBdeV   In our new Science Magazine article, we chart a strategic course for governing quantum technologies amidst an accelerating global race for dominance. We propose a "standards-first" approach to ensure quantum technology develops safely, ethically, and in a way that fosters global interoperability.   We address the urgent need for a quantum governance framework. With a tenfold increase in quantum patents over the past two decades, the suite of technologies presents both immense opportunities (chemistry, drug discovery) and significant risks (cybersecurity threats, dual-use potential for weaponization). Building on insights from the annual Stanford RQT Conference, we argue that a standards-based model for regulation is uniquely suited to quantum's nascent stage. This approach, leveraging international bodies like ISO and IEC, can create shared definitions and technical protocols that prevent fragmentation and promote a stable, competitive global market. While not a silver bullet, these standards offer a pragmatic foundation for responsible innovation and can inform future regulation as the technology matures.   By focusing on a Quality Management System for Quantum Technologies (QT-QMS), we provide a concrete toolbox for developers and policymakers. A certifiable QT-QMS standard could help simplify future regulatory efforts and agility. Our goal is to build safety and reliability into the quantum supply chain from day one, which is essential for market adoption and public trust.   We stress that today's architectural choices will have lasting consequences. Drawing a parallel to the internet's development, we argue for embedding our values into the technology from the outset to build a safe, trustworthy global ecosystem. Quantum offers a rare opportunity to get it right from the start, using a flexible, standards-based approach to foster the global dialogue needed to prevent a fragmented and unstable quantum future.   Furthermore, we contend that proactive governance enables innovation rather than hindering it. The field of biotechnology taught us that clear ethical and safety standards create the predictable environment in which science can flourish and translate into societal benefit.   Ultimately, our aim with this proactive governance is to ensure that the expected affordances of quantum technology serve to benefit all of humankind. As quantum matures, we envision an integrated approach where these foundational standards are complemented by targeted, risk-based regulations.   University of Cambridge Harvard Law School TUM Think Tank Stanford University Mark Lemley Michael McFaul #quantumgovernance #standards #values #law #ethics #certification #regulation

TOC Jedi Insights: on standardization… “Without standards, every handoff is a new experiment.” Standardization is often misunderstood. It’s not about killing creativity, it’s about removing needless variability from the things we do all the time and reducing the dependency on experts. Without standards, every handoff is a gamble. The outcome depends on who’s doing the work, how they interpret the task, and what they think the next person needs. Instead of flow, we get friction. When there’s no agreed way of doing common work, the process resets with every person, every project, every time. Every handoff becomes a new experiment, and experiments take time, attention, and luck to succeed. When variability is high, experts play a crucial role in making sure work arrives as a Full Kit—complete, correct, and ready for the next step. They guide, check, and fill the gaps so less experienced team members can keep work moving without errors or rework. This doesn’t just protect flow, it ensures that expertise is applied where it’s truly needed, rather than wasted on preventable issues. Standardisation in this sense means reducing the dependency on experts to do the work right. Standards don’t slow us down, they speed us up. They create predictability at the points where work meets work. They make handoffs clean, reduce the load on experts, and free up energy for the tasks that do need innovation. They enable scalability. 💡 The TOC Jedi knows: standards protect flow. They make the routine seamless, so the extraordinary gets the attention it deserves. Flow is the force. May the flow be with you!