Trustworthy and Ethical Assurance: Digital Twins and the Gemini Principles

# Trustworthy and Ethical Assurance: Digital Twins and the Gemini Principles ###### tags: `Gemini Principles` `Planning` ![Illustration of a city and its digital twin.](https://www.turing.ac.uk/sites/default/files/styles/hero/public/2023-03/microsoftteams-image_12.png?itok=3IpuvNUG) [toc] ## Background Digital twins, as a rapidly evolving application of AI and data science, hold immense potential for societal good, yet their development demands a responsible approach. The Gemini Principles, established by the Centre for Digital Built Britain, provide a foundational ethical and operational framework for the development of digital twins. These principles are crucial in ensuring that digital twin projects align with values such as public good, transparency, and sustainability. However, there exists a notable gap in the practical guidance and examples of how these principles can be operationalized throughout the entire lifecycle of a digital twin project. This lifecycle encompasses the initial research driving innovation in data science and computational solutions, all the way to the implementation of such innovation within a digital twin, and its ultimate use in real-world applications and decision-making. In response to this challenge, the Turing Research and Innovation Cluster in Digital Twins (TRIC-DT) and the Connected Places Catapult Digital Twin Hub are collaborating to develop a practical framework, utilizing the Trustworthy and Ethical Assurance (TEA) platform developed by TRIC-DT, to integrate the Gemini Principles across the full span of a digital twin project, bridging academia and industry. This framework aims to integrate the Gemini Principles across the full span of a digital twin project, bridging academia and industry. Our joint effort focuses on translating these high-level principles into actionable practices, ensuring responsible and impactful use of digital twins from inception through to application. :::success ### Objectives motivating joint initiative 1) **Public good**: Our joint initiative is driven by a shared vision to harness digital twins for the public good and to accelerate open standards and interoperability. By working together, we can streamline efforts and drive industry-wide adoption. 3) **Bridging research and industry**: We aim to establish bi-directional links where industry insights guide research and, in turn, research is tailored for swift industry adoption. This synergy ensures that digital twin outcomes are both relevant and beneficial across sectors. 2) **Developing case studies**: We will apply the TEA platform in real-world case studies, demonstrating its role in operationalizing ethical principles in digital twin development. These practical applications will highlight the platform's effectiveness in ethical decision-making and responsible technology implementation. 3) **Governance and regulation**: Our initiative includes scoping research into the governance and regulation of digital twins. We will assess current frameworks and identify needs for new guidelines. ::: ## What are the Gemini Principles? ![](https://hackmd.io/_uploads/HJIob4_A2.png) The Gemini principles were established by the Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) as part of the UK's National Digital Twin Programme. The Gemini Principles are crucial for setting the foundation and vision for the development of the National Digital Twin and ensuring alignment with the broader goals of society and the digital built environment. The Gemini Principles consist of three guiding tenets: - **Purpose:** Why information is processed. - **Trust:** How to make information reliable. - **Function:** What the resulting system looks like. These tenets are underpinned by nine key principles: - **Public good:** It must provide net public benefits. - **Value creation:** It should facilitate value from the use and sharing of information. - **Insight:** Information should be used to provide insight for decisions at all scales. - **Security:** It needs to be secure. - **Openness:** The presumption is in favor of openness. - **Quality:** Data quality is essential. - **Federation:** The system will be a federated ecosystem of digital twins. - **Curation:** Maintain the data to ensure it remains useful over time. - **Evolution:** It needs to be able to evolve to accommodate technological advances and changing needs. :::info 📚 **Key Publications** - Original Report: https://www.cdbb.cam.ac.uk/system/files/documents/TheGeminiPrinciples.pdf - Gemini Papers: https://digitaltwinhub.co.uk/about/the-gemini-papers/ ::: ## What is the TEA Platform <img src="https://hackmd.io/_uploads/H1qhXxv8T.png" style="float: left; width: 200px;"></img> The Trustworthy and Ethical Assurance (TEA) platform is an innovative tool designed to formalize best practices in the ethical implementation of AI projects. Developed collaboratively by researchers at the Alan Turing Institute, the University of York, and the UK Government’s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, the TEA platform is an open-source, community-oriented resource maintained through GitHub. It is specifically designed to guide users in defining, operationalizing, and implementing ethical principles in AI and data science projects. The platform facilitates this through the creation of assurance cases, which are structured, graphical arguments demonstrating how specific goals have been achieved. These cases detail the claims and supporting evidence considered jointly sufficient for realizing the stated goals. The TEA platform serves not only as a research tool but also as a means to upskill AI professionals, offering open documentation, skills, and training resources. ## Mapping the Gemini, SAFE-D & FAIR Principles The Gemini Principles can also be mapped onto the [FAIR](https://www.go-fair.org/) (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) and [SAFE-D](https://www.turing.ac.uk/research/research-projects/ai-ethics-and-governance-practice) (Sustainable, Accountable, Fair, Explainable, and (Responsible) Data Stewardship) principles. These additional frameworks further help to establish a trustworthy and ethical approach to digital twins research and innovation. By showing this alignment, we can help different communities converge around a shared vocabulary to esure that digital twins are not only developed with a focus on technical excellence and operational efficiency, but also with a strong commitment to ethical governance, data stewardship, and societal values. ### Purpose - **Public good**: 🌱 (Sustainability), 🔁 (Reusability), 🔄 (Fairness) - **Value creation**: 📊 (Data Stewardship), 🔓 (Accessibility) - **Insight**: 💡 (Explainability), 🌉 (Interoperability) ### Trust - **Security**: 🔒 (Accountability), 🛡️ (Confidentiality), 🌱 (Safety) - **Openness**: 📖 (Explainability), 🔓 (Accessibility) - **Quality**: 📈 (Data Stewardship), 🌉 (Findable) ### Function - **Federation**: ⚖️ (Fairness), 🌉 (Interoperability) - **Curation**: 📊 (Data Stewardship), 🔁 (Reusability), 🌱 (Sustainability) - **Evolution**: 🌱 (Sustainability), 🔁 (Reusability) ## Assuring the Gemini Principles Having a clear and structured approach to assurance of the gemini principles is crucial to their successful adoption, implementation, and use. Principles serve as important goals at which to aim, but it can be challenging for practitioners (e.g. developers, product owners) to know how to put principles into practice or demonstrate and communicate adherence to them. Similar to how technical standards evolve through a process of consensus formation among experts and stakeholders, the operationalisation of normative principles, such as the Gemini principles, depends upon a diverse community of stakeholder sharing best practices for how they have utilised the gemini principles throughout the design, development, and deployment of a digital twin. The Trustworthy and Ethical Assurance platform, developed by the Alan Turing Institute and the University of York (with additional support from the UK Government's Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation), is a community-centred and open platform for building and sharing assurance cases for a wide range of data-driven technologies, inlcuding digital twins. ```mermaid flowchart LR A[✅ Normative Principles] --> B[❌ Consensus Best Practices and Stakeholder Claims] B --> C[❌ Assurance Argument Pattern] C --> D[❌ Dissemination and Advocacy Strategy] ``` **Example of best practices relating to principles**: - We use **flexible, standardized querying** protocols - This practice makes our system more **Interoperable** - Alignment with Gemini principles through promoting **openness** & **federation** ### Roadmap ```mermaid gantt title Delphi Method Roadmap for identifying best practices dateFormat Q section Foundation Goal Setting : 2023-12-5, 35d Define Research Scope : 2023-12-5, Map Gemini, SAFE-D & FAIR principles :2023-12-5, BSI Flex 260 / ISO/IEC 30173 :2023-12-5, Desk Research :2024-01, 45d Collect public opinion :2024-01, Literature review :2024-01, Semi-struct interviews :2024-01, section Survey Design :2024-02-10, 20d Formulate Statements :2024-02-10, Workshop Survey :2024-02-10, Creation :2024-03-01, 25d Software selection :2024-03-01, Survey Programming :2024-03-01, Planning :2024-04-01, 4w Invite experts :2024-04-01, Pretest :2024-04-01, Data Collection :2024-05-01, 60d Iterative Procedure:2024-05-01, section Analysis Data Analysis :2024-07-01, 6w Data Cleaning :2024-07-1, Descriptive Stats :2024-07-1, Advanced Analysis :2024-07-1, ``` ## Value statement (i.e. what is the benefit of operationalising the gemini principles and building argument patterns/assurance cases) ### What is the potential value of this partnership? - **Maximising reach of communities**: a key aspect of our community building is the potential for enhanced stakeholder engagement, where the combined networks of both entities can reach a wider audience and have a more significant impact through coordinated community engagement activities. - **Complementary expertise**: both teams have complementary expertise on digital twins (e.g. scientific, governance, incubation and development). The DT Hub have established infrastructure and community, with wide-ranging expertise from commerical partners. The TRIC-DT have established resources and tools for responsible research and innovation, and strong links to both academic and public sector organisations. - **Leveraging Open-Source Tools**: the partnership between DT Hub and TRIC-DT can harness existing open-source tools to connect communities. This approach ensures seamless knowledge sharing and builds on proven platforms, enhancing efficiency. - **Building Capacity and Advancing Gemini Principles**: the collaboration aims to strengthen capacities and embed the Gemini principles in diverse workflows (e.g. procedural and iterative approach to assurance). By adopting a structured, iterative approach to assurance, the partnership ensures that guidelines are practical and adaptable to the evolving digital twin ecosystem. - **Efficiency and Resource Optimization**: TRIC-DT's plan to build a knowledge commons, including assurance case patterns for DTs. We aim this to be complementary to DT Hub's initiatives, ensuring efficient use of resources, avoiding duplication of efforts, and leveraging each other's strengths. ## Meetings ### December 5th (Connected Places Catapult) #### Attendees *Digital Twin Hub* - Justin Anderson (Director of the Digital Twin Hub) - Ryan Goodman (Connected Digital Twins Team Lead) - John Holden (Community Manager) *Alan Turing Institute* - Sophie Arana (Research Application Manager) - Chrisopher Burr (Senior Researcher in Trustworthy Systems, TRIC-DT Innovation and Impact Hub Lead) - Cassandra Gould Van Praag (Senior Research Community Manager) - Kalle Westerling (Research Application Manager) #### Notes - Link to Notes #### Next Steps

Syntax	Example	Reference
# Header	Header	基本排版
- Unordered List	Unordered List
1. Ordered List	Ordered List
- [ ] Todo List	Todo List
> Blockquote	Blockquote
Bold font	Bold font
Italics font	Italics font
~~Strikethrough~~	~~Strikethrough~~
19^th^	19^th
H~2~O	H₂O
++Inserted text++	Inserted text
==Marked text==	Marked text
[link text](https:// "title")	Link
![image alt](https:// "title")	Image
`Code`	`Code`	在筆記中貼入程式碼
```javascript var i = 0; ```	`var i = 0;`
:smile:		Emoji list
{%youtube youtube_id %}	Externals
$L^aT_eX$	L^aT_eX
:::info This is a alert area. :::	This is a alert area.