ISO/IEC TS 12791:2024

Technical
Specification
ISO/IEC TS 12791
First edition
Information technology — Artificial
2024-10
intelligence — Treatment of
unwanted bias in classification and
regression machine learning tasks
Technologies de l'information — Intelligence artificielle —
Traitement des biais indésirables dans les tâches d'apprentissage
automatique de classification et de régression
Reference number
© ISO/IEC 2024
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© ISO/IEC 2024 – All rights reserved
ii
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
3.1 General .1
3.2 Artificial intelligence .3
3.3 Bias .4
3.4 Testing .5
4 Abbreviated terms . 6
5 Treating unwanted bias in the AI system life cycle . 6
5.1 Inception .6
5.1.1 Stakeholder identification .6
5.1.2 Stakeholder needs and requirements definition .7
5.1.3 Procurement .8
5.1.4 Data sources .9
5.1.5 Integration with risk management .11
5.1.6 Acceptance criteria .11
5.2 Design and development . 12
5.2.1 Feature representation . 12
5.2.2 Metadata sufficiency . 12
5.2.3 Data annotations . 12
5.2.4 Adjusting data . 13
5.2.5 Methods for managing identified risks . 13
5.3 Verification and validation . 13
5.3.1 General . 13
5.3.2 Static testing of data used in development .14
5.3.3 Dynamic testing .14
5.4 Re-evaluation, continuous validation, operations and monitoring . 15
5.4.1 General . 15
5.4.2 External change .16
5.5 Disposal . . .17
6 Techniques to address unwanted bias . 17
6.1 General .17
6.2 Algorithmic and training techniques .17
6.2.1 General .17
6.2.2 Pre-trained models .18
6.3 Data techniques .19
7 Handling bias in a distributed AI system life cycle . 19
Annex A (informative) Life cycle processes map .21
Annex B (informative) Potential impacts of unwanted bias on different types of specific user .22
Bibliography .23

© ISO/IEC 2024 – All rights reserved
iii
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity.
ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations,
governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described
in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types
of documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/
IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives or www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs).
ISO and IEC draw attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the
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Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
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For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions
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Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
In the IEC, see www.iec.ch/understanding-standards.
This document was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 42, Artificial intelligence], in collaboration with the European Committee for
Standardization (CEN) Technical Committee CEN/CLC/JTC 21, Artificial Intelligence, in accordance with the
Agreement on technical cooperation between ISO and CEN (Vienna Agreement).
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards
body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html and
www.iec.ch/national-committees.

© ISO/IEC 2024 – All rights reserved
iv
Introduction
This document describes steps that can be taken to treat unwanted bias during the development or use of AI
systems.
This document is based on ISO/IEC TR 24027 and provides treatment techniques in accordance with the AI
system life cycle as defined in ISO/IEC 22989:2022, Clause 6 and ISO/IEC 5338. The treatment techniques
in this document are agnostic of context. This document is based on the types of bias described in
ISO/IEC TR 24027.
This document describes good practises for treating unwanted bias and can help an organization with the
treatment of unwanted bias in machine learning (ML) systems that conduct classification and regression
tasks. The techniques in this document are applicable to classification and regression ML tasks. This
document does not address applicability of the described methods outside of the defined ML tasks.
This document does not contain organizational management and enabling processes related to an AI
management system, which can be found in ISO/IEC 42001.
Annex A provides a cross-reference between the life cycle stages and the clauses of this document.

© ISO/IEC 2024 – All rights reserved
v
Technical Specification ISO/IEC TS 12791:2024(en)
Information technology — Artificial intelligence — Treatment
of unwanted bias in classification and regression machine
learning tasks
1 Scope
This document describes how to address unwanted bias in AI systems that use machine learning to conduct
classification and regression tasks. This document provides mitigation techniques that can be applied
throughout the AI system life cycle in order to treat unwanted bias. This document is applicable to all types
and sizes of organization.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes
requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references,
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 5259-4:2024, Artificial intelligence — Data quality for analytics
...