The State of Trustworthy AI Policy – Part 1 of 2

Posted on by Sherrard
A photograph of the Seattle Central Library. The photo is distributed via Creative Commons License. More info: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seattle_Library_01.jpg

With my colleague, Erik Lee, I had the great privilege to speak at the Information Architecture Conference in Seattle (at the beautiful Seattle Public Central Library) in April of last year. The topic of the presentation, titled “Beware of Glorbo: A Case Study and Survey of the Fight Against Misinformation” was about AI Data Poisoning (now also known as Prompt or Context Injection), but there was a section where I summarized the state of AI Data Policy, as I understood it then. People told me that the mental models I provided were helpful for getting bearings on the specific terms surrounding AI policy.

In light of this feedback, I thought it would be good to revisit this talk ahead of an update I’m giving later this year. But first, let’s view that state of AI policy terms in April of 2024:

A diagram showing nebulous shapes haphazardly placed. Each of the shapes has terms such as "Robust AI," "Strong AI," "Trustworthy AI." The shapes are accompanied by question marks. This image is to convey the nebulous understanding of these terms in Spring of 2024.

My deck showed the nebulous state of popular AI policy terms that were being thrown around. The term names are not intuitively descriptive and the relationships between them is unclear, especially when sloppy marketing jargon would obscure their meanings as technical terms of art.

We start by setting definitions. Terms that were conceptually identical have been grouped.

  • Explainable/Transparent AI – AI that can explain the reasoning behind its output
  • Robust AI – AI that is technically robust: (consistent, accurate and secure)
  • Ethical/Responsible AI – AI that is inclusive, non-discriminatory, fair – may even have environmental considerations
  • Trustworthy AI – AI that encompasses the above principles: safe, secure, consistent and accountable to enable trust in the AI output

Strong AI – AI that is aware of concepts, its own reasoning and itself as an independent agent

Using these definitions, I drew a diagram to help people visualize the state of these terms.

A structured diagram showing the reationship between terms. Trustworthy AI is at the top of the hierarchy. Three sub-groups are below it: Explainable/Transparent AI, Robust AI, and Ethical/Responsible AI. The term Strong AI is nebulous and disconnected.


In the diagram, I placed Trustworthy AI as a superset concept that includes each of the other AI policy concepts (explainable/transparent AI, robust AI, ethical/responsible AI) within it. Strong AI (now more commonly referred to as Advanced General Intelligence (or AGI) is disconnected since it is only theoretical.

This model is imperfect as these policies often overlap and share goals, definitions and desired outcomes. I found, however, thinking of each of these policies as contributing to the larger goal of Trustworthy AI to be a helpful way of understanding each of these policies and how the relate to each other.

In addition to defining and contextualizing these AI policies to one another, I also profiled the organizations making the most waves in these spaces and what had been published and legislated up to that point.

The heavy hitters that I had found were:

Additionally, I noted some movement in the Executive and Legislative branches of the United States government at that time.

Now, nearly a year later what has changed? A lot, as you can all imagine.

I will speak about this at DGIQ West 2025 in a talk titled “Catching Up with Glorbo: Combatting AI Data Poisoning with RAG Frameworks“. You won’t have to wait until May, as I plan to write about this in Part 2 ahead of the conference. In the meantime, here are some highlights include:

Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me to continue write and speak about this subject. Stay tuned for part two. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with helpful feedback (that includes corrections). 🙂 See you soon in Part 2.

On Launching a Blog in 2024

Posted on by Sherrard

Like a lot of people in tech in the years leading up to, during, and after COVID, my relationship to the Internet and technology changed on a profound level.

Photograph of the author circa 1998. An "awkward" teenager in front of a computer desk stacked with books.
The author at the start of his information science journey, ca. 1998

I spent the greater part of my youth devouring and regurgitating tech and internet hype. I sincerely believed that information technology was the solution to most, if not all, of society’s ills. I was too caught up in the novelty of this new technology to consider the serious downsides. It wasn’t all bad, however. This enthusiasm led me to get my Library and Information Sciences degree.

Ironically, it was the insight gained from my MLIS degree that contributed to my declining enthusiasm for technology. As the implications of disinformation and information illiteracy played out in recent years, I watched my relationship with technology swing from a source of inspiration to a fount of existential dread. In time, outside of what I needed to do for daily work, I withdrew from social media and the Internet almost entirely.

Photograph of the author in his 30's in front of a working Xerox Alto computer from 1973 at the Living Computer Museum in Seattle
The author at the peak of my tech exuberance. Rest in Peace, Living Computer Museum

Others have written with similar experiences. We’ve all heard the reasons: the enshittification of the Web, misinformation, cyberbullying, how generative AI is making the Dead Internet theory more of a reality, Zoom Fatigue. At this rate, why bother with the web anymore? Anything you post is going to be used to train generative AI models, further continuing to crowd out signal with noise.

A garish image of a computer-generated skeleton holding a machine gun in each hand. In clashing fonts and colors text reads "BRING BACK RSS READER'S [sic] AND BLOG'S"
The amazing work of “Admin” from da share z0ne. Replace your entire wardrobe and buy all of their merch

And yet, I’ve been inspired watching some colleagues in my professional network, such as Tracy Forzaglia and Stuart Maxwell, restart websites and blogs. Additionally, I love the work of Molly White (Web 3 is Going Just Great, Follow the Crypto) and her work reminds me the value of having a platform that you control. The old Internet is still there, dammit.

I also had a great conversation with Jorge Arango at IAC 2024. This conversation was partially responsible for Jorge writing an article about why the IA field needs to get out of the AI doldrums. The conversation also helped rekindle my curiosity towards these new technologies.

Yes, the harms are real and they will continue to grow, horrifyingly, in scale. As Jorge reminded me, nay, challenged me, that doesn’t preclude us from getting nerdy with the tools to find out what good they can do. Challenge accepted.

In addition to writing about “AI” technology itself, I plan to discuss developments in policy such as:

  • Transparent or Understandable AI
  • Ethical or Responsible AI
  • Trustworthy AI
  • Robust AI
  • Sustainable AI

I also want to write about topics relating to:

  • Linked Open Data “infrastructure”
  • Information Theory in everyday life
  • Humane design and the ethics of information environments
  • Stuff I just think is neat
An image of Marge Simpson holding a potato saying "I just think they're neat."
Marge Simpson holding a potato and saying “I just think they’re neat.” Be like Marge

I am not a Machine Learning or Generative AI expert. I don’t have a software engineering degree. But I hold a Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Washington Information School. I am an experienced Taxonomist, Ontologist, and Information Architect, who has had the pleasure to work with semantic technologies in enterprise environments. I hope to use this platform to have professional conversations, learn in public, and also to help other learn in the process.

I’m excited to explore what we can do when we take the means of communications back from centralized platforms. I think the Internet can be “fun” again.

Protocols Not Platforms!
Pods Not Profiles!

Disaffected info nerds of the word, unite! ✊- Sherrard

A recent photograph of the author, standing in a field with a beard, wearing sunglasses, a cap, large headphones and a shirt by dashare.zone reading "IT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO 'LOG OFF'"
The author further on in years. A little more jaded, but still an information nerd