COMPEL Glossary / ethical-impact-assessment-eia
Ethical Impact Assessment (EIA)
An Ethical Impact Assessment is a mandatory evaluation conducted before any AI system moves from development to production, systematically assessing potential harms, affected populations, and mitigation strategies.
What this means in practice
EIAs operationalize ethical principles into concrete review processes by requiring teams to answer questions like: Who could be harmed by this system? How could harm manifest? What mitigations are in place? What residual risks are accepted and by whom? EIAs must be conducted by or reviewed by individuals independent of the development team to provide objective evaluation. In the COMPEL framework, EIAs are part of the Model stage artifacts (Human-AI Collaboration Blueprints, TMPL-M-004) and are required for gate passage before advancing to Produce. Organizations that conduct EIAs consistently report that the review process frequently improves system design.
Related Terms
Other glossary terms mentioned in this entry's definition and context.