Trustworthy AI Must Account for Interactions

Trustworthy AI encompasses many aspirational aspects for aligning AI systems with human values, including fairness, privacy, robustness, explainability, and uncertainty quantification. The ultimate goal of Trustworthy AI research is to achieve all aspects simultaneously. However, efforts to enhance one aspect often introduce unintended trade-offs that negatively impact others. In this position paper, we review notable approaches to five aspects and systematically consider every pair, detailing the negative interactions that can arise. For example, applying differential privacy to model training can amplify biases, undermining fairness. Drawing on these findings, we take the position that current research practices of improving one or two aspects in isolation are insufficient. Instead, research on Trustworthy AI must account for interactions between aspects and adopt a holistic view across all relevant axes at once. We offer recommendations for how researchers can work towards integrated trust, and provide guidance for practitioners to manage interactions today.