Ethical Tools, Methods and Principles in Software Engineering and Development: Case Ethical User Stories

Abstract

The great leap with the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technology has increased the range of different requirements for software quality, especially in terms of ethics. To implement high-level requirements, like ethical principles, into the workflow of software engineering, new requirements engineer tools are to be developed. Ethical User Stories (EUS) offers a simple way of implementing ethics in software development. This research has investigated the idea of using familiar requirements engineering artifacts, User Stories, to implement ethical principles, into the workflow of software engineering and operationalizing the studied phenomena of EUS. The preliminary results, found through two ongoing empirical studies with a data collection of 600+ EUS, show that EUS is a pressure-free, human-centric and accessible approach to Ethically Aligned Design (EAD) that intertwines with quality characteristics and relieves the developer from the heavy burden of ethical consideration to a smooth workflow of software engineering. An effective EUS is consistent throughout the user story and shares the idea that user-driven ethical motivation generates system functionality or benefits non-functional software design for quality assurance.