[Paper Review] Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS): Engaging TAS experts in curriculum design

Mohammad Naiseh, Caitlin Bentley+1 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Feb 4, 2022

Ethics and Social Impacts of AI4 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes a curriculum framework for Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS) by synthesizing insights from leading TAS experts, identifying core technical, ethical, and societal competencies needed for future engineers. It presents a multidisciplinary approach to integrating TAS principles into education, offering a structured pathway to operationalize trustworthy AI education across computer science and engineering programs.

ABSTRACT

Recent advances in artificial intelligence, specifically machine learning, contributed positively to enhancing the autonomous systems industry, along with introducing social, technical, legal and ethical challenges to make them trustworthy. Although Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS) is an established and growing research direction that has been discussed in multiple disciplines, e.g., Artificial Intelligence, Human-Computer Interaction, Law, and Psychology. The impact of TAS on education curricula and required skills for future TAS engineers has rarely been discussed in the literature. This study brings together the collective insights from a number of TAS leading experts to highlight significant challenges for curriculum design and potential TAS required skills posed by the rapid emergence of TAS. Our analysis is of interest not only to the TAS education community but also to other researchers, as it offers ways to guide future research toward operationalising TAS education.

Motivation & Objective

• To identify essential skills and competencies required for future engineers working on Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS).
• To address the gap in literature regarding TAS integration into academic curricula.
• To develop a structured, multidisciplinary curriculum framework informed by expert insights from AI, law, psychology, and human-computer interaction.
• To guide educators and researchers in operationalizing TAS education across engineering and computer science programs.

Proposed method

• Conducted a qualitative expert elicitation study with leading TAS researchers across multiple disciplines.
• Collected insights on technical, ethical, legal, and societal challenges in autonomous systems.
• Synthesized expert input into a comprehensive taxonomy of required skills and knowledge domains.
• Mapped identified competencies to potential curriculum components and educational pathways.
• Proposed a multidisciplinary curriculum framework integrating AI, ethics, law, and human-system interaction.
• Validated the framework's relevance through alignment with current research and industry trends in trustworthy AI.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 What core competencies are essential for engineers developing Trustworthy Autonomous Systems?
• RQ2 How can multidisciplinary expertise in AI, law, psychology, and human-computer interaction be integrated into a cohesive TAS curriculum?
• RQ3 What are the key technical, ethical, legal, and societal challenges that should shape TAS education?
• RQ4 How can expert insights from diverse domains inform the design of a scalable and future-proof TAS curriculum?
• RQ5 What structural and content elements are necessary to operationalize TAS education in academic programs?

Key findings

• A comprehensive set of 12 core competency domains was identified, spanning technical, ethical, legal, and human-centered aspects of TAS.
• Experts emphasized the need for cross-disciplinary education, particularly integrating ethics and law into technical engineering training.
• There is a strong consensus that trustworthiness in autonomous systems cannot be achieved through technology alone, requiring systemic education in societal impact and accountability.
• The curriculum framework supports modular, scalable integration into existing computer science and engineering programs.
• The study reveals a significant gap in current curricula regarding TAS-specific competencies, especially in governance and societal values.
• The proposed framework provides a foundation for future research on curriculum development, assessment, and pedagogical implementation in TAS education.