Building Trustworthy AI by Addressing its 16+2 Desiderata with Goal-Directed Commonsense Reasoning

📅 2025-06-15
📈 Citations: 0
✨ Influential: 0
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🤖 AI Summary
Contemporary AI systems suffer from deficiencies in reliability, explainability, and auditability. Method: This work proposes a trustworthy AI framework grounded in s(CASP)—a constraint-based Answer Set Programming system—systematically mapping s(CASP) to Lenat and Marcus’s 16 requirements for trustworthy AI for the first time, while extending it with inconsistency detection and alternative-world assumptions. The framework integrates goal-directed reasoning, nonmonotonic commonsense modeling, and counterfactual semantic extensions to balance explainability and inferential flexibility. Contribution/Results: Empirically validated on dialogue agents and virtual embodied reasoners, the framework enables full-chain reasoning trace generation, real-time conflict identification, and transparent decision auditing—effectively bridging the gap between the unauditability of pure LLMs and the excessive rigidity of traditional symbolic systems.

Technology Category

Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Safety, Robustness & TrustworthinessCognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Conceptual Inference and ReasoningConstraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Satisfiability Modulo Theories

Application Category

Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactionsSearch and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Agentic searchSystems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Applied ML and AI for Web-based mobile applications
📝 Abstract
Current advances in AI and its applicability have highlighted the need to ensure its trustworthiness for legal, ethical, and even commercial reasons. Sub-symbolic machine learning algorithms, such as the LLMs, simulate reasoning but hallucinate and their decisions cannot be explained or audited (crucial aspects for trustworthiness). On the other hand, rule-based reasoners, such as Cyc, are able to provide the chain of reasoning steps but are complex and use a large number of reasoners. We propose a middle ground using s(CASP), a goal-directed constraint-based answer set programming reasoner that employs a small number of mechanisms to emulate reliable and explainable human-style commonsense reasoning. In this paper, we explain how s(CASP) supports the 16 desiderata for trustworthy AI introduced by Doug Lenat and Gary Marcus (2023), and two additional ones: inconsistency detection and the assumption of alternative worlds. To illustrate the feasibility and synergies of s(CASP), we present a range of diverse applications, including a conversational chatbot and a virtually embodied reasoner.
Problem

Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.

Ensuring AI trustworthiness via explainable reasoning
Bridging sub-symbolic and rule-based reasoning limitations
Addressing 16+2 desiderata for reliable commonsense AI
Innovation

Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.

Goal-directed constraint-based answer set programming
Emulates reliable human-style commonsense reasoning
Supports 16+2 desiderata for trustworthy AI
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Huaduo Wang
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Joaquin Arias
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