Risk analysis and impact assessment
A core component of ISO 42001 is the systematic handling of AI-specific risks and impacts, distinguishing between organizational-focused risk analysis and broader societal impact assessments.
The standard requires organizations to establish a formal AI risk assessment process (primarily in Clause 6.1 and operationalized in Clause 8). This involves:
- Identifying AI-related risks across the lifecycle, including technical issues (for example, model drift, adversarial attacks), ethical concerns (for example, bias, lack of transparency), and operational threats (for example, data quality issues, third-party dependencies).
- Evaluating risks based on likelihood and potential consequences to the organization and its AI objectives.
- Comparing identified risks against predefined risk criteria and treating them by selecting controls from Annex A (for example, controls for fairness testing, privacy preservation, or resilience).
- Documenting the process, including risk treatment plans (accept, avoid, mitigate, or transfer), and implementing selected controls.
- Focus areas include ethical, social, legal, and environmental consequences, such as discrimination, erosion of privacy, or societal inequality.
- The process requires documenting both the potential positive and negative impacts, their severity, and the corresponding mitigation strategies.
- Assessments should occur throughout the AI lifecycle, from design to deployment and monitoring, and be updated as needed.
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