AI Safety Risk Label, V2.0

Standardized AI Safety Label, V2.0

Imagine helping your mom choose a smart device to manage her medications. You see two similar products - both claiming to be "AI-powered" and "reliable." But one carries a clear safety label, like the nutrition facts she checks carefully on her food packages. This label shows exactly how accurate the system is, verified by independent experts, and explained in simple terms that both you and your mom can understand. The other product just has marketing claims.

My initial motivation for designing an AI Safety Label was to make safety information for AI-enabled consumer products as clear as standardized nutrition labels. I put particular emphasis on making the information accessible for older adults and their caregivers, who may be less familiar with AI technology but increasingly interact with these products. Version 1.0 focused on the familiar - in the US at least - nutrition format.

This is why we need a standardized AI safety label, especially for technology designed for older adults. Seniors and caregivers deserve to know exactly how trustworthy their AI assistants are. Just as food labels help them make informed choices about their nutrition, AI safety labels could help older adults and their families make confident decisions about the technology they bring into their homes.

The beauty of adapting the familiar nutrition label format is that it's already familiar to our senior community - they've been reading these labels for decades. No need to learn complex tech terms - just clear, verified information about how well the system performs its job. For aging tech companies committed to safety and transparency, this label says, "We understand that earning your trust means proving our reliability."

To version 2.0 I added:

• EU's CE markings for compliance with the European Union's Cyber Resilience Act

• U.S. Cyber Trust Mark showing compliance with the FCC's voluntary cybersecurity labeling program for wireless consumer IoT products

• A QR code (generated using Apple's QR generator) that leads to a comprehensive information page

Try it yourself - scan the QR code to explore the mockup webpage. You'll find detailed, current information about the product's AI safety compliance, written in clear, non-technical language. While more work is needed to better organize the content, this represents a step toward making AI safety information more accessible to consumers.

I believe making AI safety information easy to access, comprehensive AND comprehensible is crucial for building trust with consumers of any age.

Thank you to all who commented on my initial version, and I welcome your thoughts on version 2.0 and the companion webpage.

Standardized AI Safety Label, V1.0