eBay is committed to the responsible use of AI. We see unique opportunities to develop AI-powered customer tools and services, which must be implemented safely while meeting our community’s needs. We have adopted the following key principles:
1. Inclusivity, Equity, and Fairness: eBay strives to enable equitable and fair AI experiences
Building with an inclusivity mindset moves us closer to achieving equity and fairness. We strive to ensure our AI systems represent a diverse range of human cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. Inclusivity in AI systems means implementing appropriate measures to avoid excluding certain groups or people from being able to engage with or to benefit from the AI system. Key checks and balances help ensure that an AI system’s decisions don’t unfairly discriminate against people, and we strive to ensure that datasets we use meet the highest bars for quality and safety.
2. Accountability and Lawfulness: Everyone in the eBay community has a role to play in responsible AI
We take steps to ensure that AI systems function properly, throughout their lifecycle, and that their design, development, testing, and use all comply with regulatory frameworks. We actively ensure there is human oversight throughout the development, launch, and monitoring of AI uses, and have implemented risk-based decision-making processes.
3. Reliability, Safety, and Security: Build trustworthy AI systems that are reliable, safe and secure
At eBay, we rigorously test AI technologies to prevent unauthorized access and malicious use, and employ the most protective measures possible for any confidential data that are used to train or operate AI systems and models. Our goal is to ensure that our AI systems are designed to perform as they were originally intended, to respond securely in various conditions of use, do not pose safety risks in unexpected situations or adverse conditions, and to be secure and resilient, in accordance with the highest standards in information security.
4. Privacy by Design: Build AI systems with privacy at the forefront
To the extent that personal information is involved in any part of our technology stack, we apply eBay’s Privacy principles – which are the backbone of eBay’s Privacy program – to guide choices for AI system design, development, deployment, and use. This includes ensuring a Privacy by Design approach in which we adopt a privacy mindset throughout decision-making and use state-of-the-art methods to keep data private and secure.
5. Transparency: Provide users with transparency into our use of AI
Recent classes of AI technologies, such as Generative AI, make it difficult to understand the reasoning behind an AI system’s output. eBay strives to be transparent to end users about its use of AI. In some cases, we accomplish this by disclosing information about the type of AI being used within the experience itself, and in other cases, through broader disclosure of our use of AI generally, based on the stage of its lifecycle. Our transparency approaches will also strive to communicate most effectively given the role of the individuals interacting with or using the AI system.
Conclusion
Our commitment to these AI principles reflects our dedication to advancing technology responsibly and ethically. We are incorporating these values to set the standard for the development and use of AI in ecommerce. As we continue to innovate and lead in the AI space, we remain committed to our values, ensuring that we use AI to enhance the eBay experience and respect the needs of the entire eBay community.
