SusTern ηoryX™

Responsible AI

At SusTern™, our primary goal is to build AI-powered solutions that help businesses overcome data overload and process inefficiencies. We are committed to responsible AI development, addressing ethical and practical challenges alongside our ambition to improve supply chain management for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). 

Our commitment manifests in the following measures:

1. Human Oversight and Accountability

Feedback Mechanisms: We are designing our AI solutions to include robust feedback mechanisms, allowing customers to provide input directly. A dedicated review board will analyze this feedback to ensure appropriate action and iterative improvement of our AI systems. This contributes to accountability and ensures our solutions meet user needs and expectations while adhering to responsible AI principles.

Transparency and Explainability: We will strive for transparency in how our AI models reach conclusions, working towards explainable AI (XAI) methodologies wherever feasible. This allows for better understanding of decision-making processes and increases accountability.

2. Cybersecurity

Secure Cloud Infrastructure: Our product is developed and hosted on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), leveraging its robust security features. We utilize Google Vertex AI for LLMs and Gemini for embedding generation, with customer data securely stored in Google Cloud Storage. Our centralized GCP approach facilitates consistent application of data and security policies, minimizing cybersecurity risks.

Ongoing Security Practices: We are committed to implementing and continuously improving strong safety and security practices to mitigate unintended harmful outcomes. This includes regular security audits, vulnerability assessments, and penetration testing of our systems. We will also monitor our solution's operation after deployment to detect and address any emerging security threats.

3. Data Privacy and Governance

Data Use Policies & Compliance: We are actively developing comprehensive data use policies and terms of service, guided by ElevateIP and IP-Ontario, and in alignment with applicable legislation and regulatory requirements (including those of platforms like Shopify where our solution will be deployed). These policies will ensure transparency and user control over data usage.

Compliance with Legal and Social Norms: Our development adheres to the social and legal norms of the countries where we operate. This includes strict enforcement of data boundaries and testing in constrained environments before broader deployment.

4. Fairness and Equity

Bias Mitigation: We acknowledge the potential for bias in AI systems and commit to proactive mitigation strategies. This includes data auditing for bias, model evaluation for fairness, and ongoing monitoring for discriminatory outcomes. We will adopt best practices to ensure fairness and equitable access to our solutions.

5. Safety

Harm Prevention: We explicitly prohibit the development of solutions that cause or are likely to cause harm, violating generally accepted norms or international law and human rights. Rigorous testing and monitoring are integral to preventing such outcomes.

6. Compliance with Legislation and Regulatory Requirements

SusTern™ is committed to complying with all applicable data privacy regulations and other relevant legislation in the jurisdictions where we operate. Our collaboration with legal and IP services ensures our practices remain current and compliant with evolving legal landscapes. The use of established platforms like GCP and Shopify contributes to this compliance.