Sustainability & AI
Trustworthy AI
AI systems that are lawful, ethical and robust; the framing used by the EU's high-level expert group.
Definition
AI that is lawful, ethical and robust — the framing established by the EU High-Level Expert Group's 2019 Ethics Guidelines, which specify seven requirements AI systems should meet.
Quick reference
At a glance
- Subject
- Sustainability & AI
- Editorial status
- Editorial draft
- Definition status
- Established
- Last updated
- 21 August 2026
References
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Overview
What it means
The HLEG's seven requirements — human agency and oversight; technical robustness and safety; privacy and data governance; transparency; diversity and fairness; societal and environmental wellbeing; and accountability — became the conceptual base for European AI policy and the AI Act. The inclusion of environmental wellbeing was notable for 2019.
How it is used
Developers and deployers use the requirements as assessment checklists (operationalised via the ALTAI self-assessment tool); the framing persists in standards work and in the trustworthiness characteristics of the NIST framework.
Why it matters
'Trustworthy AI' translated ethics into an assessable requirement set. Its environmental-wellbeing requirement gives practitioners a canonical reference for including footprint and sustainability effects in AI assessments.
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