What is the purpose of an AI ethics board?

• A. To audit code quality.
• B. To provide independent oversight, guidance, and accountability for ethical implications of AI projects.
• C. To manage marketing.
• D. To oversee hardware procurement.

Answer: (B)

An AI ethics board exists to provide independent oversight, guidance, and accountability for the ethical implications of AI projects. This means it reviews how AI systems may affect people and society, helps set and enforce ethical principles, and ensures decisions align with legal, regulatory, and organizational values. By offering impartial assessment, it helps identify risks like bias, unfairness, safety concerns, and transparency gaps, and it provides response mechanisms when issues arise. This independent governance builds trust, supports responsible innovation, and creates a clear way to hold the organization accountable for the outcomes of its AI deployments. Other activities like auditing code quality, marketing, or hardware procurement explore technical correctness, promotion, or procurement rather than addressing how AI affects people and society, so they don’t serve the same ethical governance role.