Key Takeaway
Ethics review board meetings are most effective when they alternate between reviewing specific systems and addressing systemic improvements to ethical processes.
When to Use This Template
Use this agenda for regular ethics review board sessions (monthly recommended) and on-demand reviews when urgent ethical concerns arise. The ethics review board is typically cross-functional: engineering, product, legal, compliance, and an external advisor if available. All discussions are confidential to encourage open discussion of ethical concerns.
Meeting Flow
- 1
Opening (5 min)
Confirm attendance. Remind participants of confidentiality norms. Review action items from the previous meeting and verify completion status.
- 2
System Reviews (20 min)
Review new AI systems that require ethics evaluation. For each system: what it does, who it affects, what data it uses, what decisions it influences, and what safeguards are in place. Use the ethics impact assessment framework to structure the evaluation. Decide: approved, approved with conditions, or deferred for further analysis.
- 3
Incident and Escalation Review (15 min)
Review any ethics-related incidents since the last meeting. Discuss root causes and verify that remediation actions from previous incidents are complete. Address any submissions from the anonymous escalation channel. Ensure reporters receive acknowledgment even if details cannot be shared.
- 4
Policy and Training Updates (10 min)
Review proposed policy amendments triggered by incidents, regulatory changes, or emerging industry best practices. Discuss ethics training completion rates and any case studies that should be added to training materials.
- 5
Action Items and Close (10 min)
Document all review decisions with rationale. Assign follow-up actions with owners and deadlines. Identify systems that need follow-up review at the next meeting.
Facilitation Guidance
Create a safe environment for raising ethical concerns by reinforcing that the board's purpose is to improve AI systems, not to punish teams. When reviewing systems, ask about potential harms to underrepresented user groups that the development team may not have considered. Document decisions with clear rationale so teams understand why a system was approved, conditionally approved, or deferred.
Alternate between system-level reviews and thematic discussions (e.g., fairness in hiring algorithms, privacy in recommendation systems) to build the board's expertise across different ethical domains and prevent review fatigue.
Version History
1.0.0 · 2026-03-01
- • Initial AI ethics review board agenda template