Artificial Intelligence Ethics Principles

We’ll design AI to augment and elevate human intelligence and human work

We’ll develop and use AI within a privacy by design framework

Privacy should be built into systems and processes from the outset. We’ll develop and use AI with appropriate privacy functionality and controls. We’ll endeavor to build privacy-respecting human values into non-human systems and to apply design functionality so that personal information is used only as required for the function of the system. Where appropriate, we’ll also anonymize or de-identify personal information before a machine-learning model uses the information.

We’ll be accountable for how our AI systems impact the world

Our Enterprise AI Council is responsible for ensuring our businesses comply with these principles. We’ll regularly audit our compliance with our AI standards. We’ll design our products to ensure that humans maintain appropriate control or monitoring over autonomous systems. The level of human-control for a use case will depend on (i) the degree of autonomy of the AI and (ii) the criticality of the AI deployment. We’ll offer tools and resources to help our partners and customers also be accountable for their deployment and use of our AI.

We’ll develop AI with sustainability as a focal point to help buildings and communities become more sustainable

We’ll lead the development of AI to help make buildings more sustainable. Many of our hardware offerings (from energy-efficient chillers) to advanced software (e.g., OpenBlue Central Utility Plant) are already helping some of the largest and most complex buildings in the world be more sustainable.

While evaluating AI vendors and partners, we’ll also consider their respect for the environment and for sustainability concerns.