Responsible AI Charter
The Responsible AI Charter is a public commitment offered by the Institute for Sustainable IT, devoted to the use of artificial intelligence. It extends the Sustainable IT Charter onto ground where decisions are taken quickly and their effects are hard to undo.
It is available in several languages at charter.isit-europe.org, free of charge, and open to any organisation.
Signatories undertake to deploy AI systems that are human-centred, trustworthy, inclusive, non-discriminatory and environmentally responsible, in line with applicable regulation including the AI Act.
The four commitments
- AI at the service of humanity
- develop AI that reinforces the central role of employees while enhancing their capabilities, and build it through social dialogue rather than around it.
- Inclusive and ethical AI
- respect equity, diversity and non-discrimination, with mechanisms that guard against bias in the data and requirements for accessibility.
- Trustworthy AI
- give people transparent information about their interactions with AI systems, and keep human oversight over high-risk activities.
- Eco-responsible AI
- adopt frugal models with efficient use of resources, and limit the environmental footprint across the whole life cycle.
The first commitment is the one most often skipped. It places social dialogue before deployment, where most organisations place it after.
Why a separate charter
Adoption ran ahead of governance. Tools arrive through teams rather than through management, which produces Shadow AI: undeclared use that exposes internal data to third parties who may train their models on it.
A charter lets an organisation state a position before practice hardens.
Relation to the AI Act
The AI Act sets legal obligations by risk level. The charter operates earlier and more broadly: it covers uses the regulation does not classify as high risk but which still raise questions of sobriety, dependency and acceptability.
What it is not
Neither a certification nor a label. Nothing is audited and no score is awarded. Signing states a principle of action, not a result.
