The Oxford Oath is the outcome of round-table conversations over the course of a year, between OCTAI members and workshop participants: scientists, engineers, philosophers, ethicists, and theologians. Following its initial drafting, it has also been enriched and revised through extensive discussions with industry professionals including industry leaders.
The initial work on the Oxford Oath began with a group of Christian academics, prompted by interest from engineers in the industry. Most OCTAI members profess religious beliefs of one kind or another, and the most substantial group has been Christian theologians, with immensely helpful input from other traditions.
What we all share is a commitment to the unveiling of human dignity, conscience and societal value through and in AI developments. We have reflected and argued long and hard over how our words — the promises of the Oath and commitments of the Open Letter — might best serve the broadest possible range of our fellow AI practitioners as they seek to live out their vocations, including most significantly as engineers and scientists, and regardless of their own religious or secular views.
Hence, we acknowledge that the Oxford Oath and Open Letter are a product and commitment arising from a particular community, but they are not limited in their value or use for this community alone. The draw from a set of understandings about human dignity and value which we believe are widely shared.
The Oxford Oath and Open Letter are written with a view towards the more extensive needs of a wider, secular society and so is written not simply as a Christian oath. The Oath itself includes options for religious and secular forms of profession, and the Open Letter has no specifically religious commitments.
After a period of several months of open feedback the text of the Oath is settling into a durable form. The salient qualities are conscience, truth and honesty. We are making the Open Letter available for sign up immediately, and will continue to refine the Oath over the coming months as people continue to provide feedback on it.
