Artificial Intelligence Policy

1.     Overview

The Ladder Back Down® (TLBD) is a Social Enterprise registered in England and Wales since January 2020,  seeking to inspire Black humans, alongside allies from all backgrounds, to:

1. help our fellow Black humans to excel
2. inspire our youth to become the best version of themselves that they can be globally

2.     Governance

The Ladder Back Down has appointed two Independent Trustees and a Managing Director to provide strategic oversight. The Ladder Back Down® Programme Board has overseen all projects including the Chat bot design, deployment and implementation. The founder will be accountable to the 2 independent Board of Directors of The Ladder Back Down®’ and responsible for the demonstrable adherence to this policy.

3.     Purpose

The purpose of this Artificial Intelligence(AI) Policy is to ensure  that the development, deployment and use of the AI chatbot and any future adopted AI tools within The Ladder Back Down® shall be responsible, ethical and  legal, and remain compliant with global AI,  Privacy and Cybersecurity laws and standards, including the EU AI ACT 2024 and the ICO AI and Data Protection Guidance. The existing AI Chatbot has also been designed and customised in compliance with the ISO 42001:2023 AI Management System.

The TLBD chatbot is the first iteration of a generative AI tool that has been designed, customised and deployed to:

1. provide TLBD employees and volunteers with the skills and knowledge to customise and implement AI tools in a workplace
2. provide visitors to the TLBD website with access to free of charge past and future workshops on our website, our free speed-mentoring booking tool, our YouTube channel, our LinkedIn business page, and a link to join our free Telegram community.

The TLBD chatbot is classified as a ‘limited risk’ AI chatbot system under the EU AI Act, 2024.

4.     Scope

This policy applies to all employees and volunteers involved in the design, development and deployment, along with all website visitors who may use our deployed AI technologies at The Ladder Back Down®.

5.     Ethical Standards

The Ladder Back Down® shall remain committed to ethical AI processes, policies and procedures throughout the AI Chatbot (and any future AI tools) lifecycle from the design phase until destruction. The following principles shall apply concerning the deployment of AI tools, in particular:

a)      Transparency

The AI chatbot has been designed to be understandable and transparent, ensuring all users understand its functionality, limitations, and decision-making processes.

b)     Fairness

In view of the high propensity of bias in the TLBD chatbot due to the core stated objectives of the social enterprise, particular care has been taken to design the AI chatbot system in  a way that avoids discrimination by not asking for data around ethnicity, race or nationality. No data will be collected that would  enable the system to deter any user from accessing TLBD’s services including the speed-mentoring service, workshop attendance or joining The Ladder Back Down® Telegram community.

c)      Accountability

The Founder of The Ladder Back Down® will be responsible for ensuring compliance with this policy.

d)     Privacy

The Ladder Back Down® takes its Data Protection responsibilities seriously and is a registered Data Controller at the UK’s Information Controllers Office (ICO Reference: ZB006028).

The use of personal data in the Chat bot AI system will therefore  comply with global data protection laws and regulations. Data will be processed when responding to user prompts and will not be stored for further additional purposes.

Personal data, including the name of each chatbot user will not be requested or required to use the chatbot. The user is required to include what they would like to be addressed as (e.g. initials or a pseudonym).

In case a user chooses to use their real name when prompted for what they would like to be addressed as, the chatbot has been customised to include a ‘clear chat’ button to enable visitors to delete their chat history prior to exiting the site, to prevent their browser from saving and presenting their previous chat history to them upon re-visiting the chatbot.

e)      Security

The Chat bot AI system has been designed to operate securely with minimum risk of compromise and minimum risk to the user. A technical security assessment has been conducted before deployment by a certified auditor and will be conducted at least annually or when a major change is made to the chatbot features.

6.     Risk Assessment

The chatbot system designed and developed for The Ladder Back Down® is a limited risk AI system, according to the EU AI Act, 2024. Users must therefore be informed before entering data, that they are dealing with a chat bot system and not a human.

Before the deployment of the Chat bot, a technical security audit and  risk assessment must be conducted to evaluate potential ethical, legal, privacy and security issues that may arise to consider any potential biases and data privacy risks.

7.     Compliance

All users, volunteers and TLBD Community members should report any privacy concerns or issues with the chatbot to the DPO or TLBD at info@ladderbackdown.com. Once issues have been investigated, action will be taken where needed to resolve the matter.

8.     Review

This policy shall be reviewed and updated annually.

Next Review Date – 30th, October 2025