What process evaluates the overall design, development, and deployment of AI systems to assess risk before and after release?

• A. Sustainability assessment
• B. Privacy impact assessment (PIA)
• C. Ethical impact assessment (EIA)
• D. Financial risk assessment

Answer: (C)

Evaluating risk across the entire AI lifecycle—from design through deployment and into post-release operation—requires examining the ethical implications of how the system will affect people and society. This is what an ethical impact assessment does: it systematically considers potential harms and benefits, biases, fairness, accountability, transparency, and governance throughout development and after deployment, and it includes ongoing monitoring and mitigation as the system evolves.

Other options target narrower domains: a sustainability assessment looks at environmental and resource impacts, a privacy impact assessment concentrates on privacy risks, and a financial risk assessment focuses on economic risks. While these are important, they don’t capture the broad, ongoing ethical risk review that spans design, development, and deployment.