A comprehensive review of techniques for documenting artificial intelligence

Abstract

Purpose: Companies are increasingly benefiting from artificial intelligence (AI) applications in various domains, but also facing its negative impacts. The challenge lies in the lack of clear governance mechanisms for AI. While documentation is a key governance tool, standard software engineering practices are inadequate for AI. Practitioners are unsure about how to document AI, raising questions about the effectiveness of current documentation guidelines. This review examines whether AI documentation guidelines meet regulatory and industry needs for AI applications and suggests directions for future research. Design/methodology/approach: A structured literature review was conducted. In total, 38 papers from top journals and conferences in the fields of medicine and information systems as well as journals focused on fair, accountable and transparent AI were reviewed. Findings: This literature review contributes to the literature by investigating the extent to which current documentation guidelines can meet the documentation requirements for AI applications from regulatory bodies and industry practitioners and by presenting avenues for future research. This paper finds contemporary documentation guidelines inadequate in meeting regulators’ and professionals’' expectations. This paper concludes with three recommended avenues for future research. Originality/value: This paper benefits from the insights from comprehensive and up-to-date sources on the documentation of AI applications.