Proportionality Principle

The ethical and legal principle that the measures taken to manage AI risks should be proportional to the severity and likelihood of the potential harms.

The idea that your safeguards should match the level of risk. A chatbot recommending movies needs fewer safety measures than an AI diagnosing cancer; the stakes determine the caution.

Proportionality is a governance efficiency principle. Not every AI system needs the same level of oversight. Your governance framework should scale requirements based on risk level, ensuring rigorous controls where they matter most without overburdening low-risk applications.