AI Model Cards: State of the Art and Path to Automated Use

In software engineering, the integration of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) components into modern web services has become commonplace. To comply with evolving regulations, such as the EU AI Act, the development of AI models must adhere to the principles of transparency. This includes the training data used, the intended use, potential biases, and the risks associated with these models. To support these goals, documents named Model Cards were introduced to standardize ethical reporting and allow stakeholders to evaluate models based on various goals. In our ongoing research, we aim to automate risk analysis and regulatory compliance checks in software systems. We envision that model cards can serve as useful tools to achieve the goal. Given the evolving format of model cards over time, we conducted a state-of-the-art review of the current state and practice of model cards by analyzing 90 model cards from four model repositories to assess their relevance to our vision. The study's contribution is a thorough analysis of the model cards' structure and content, as well as their ethical reporting. Our study reveals the variance in information reporting, the loose structure, and the lack of ethical reporting in the model cards. Based on the findings, we propose a unified model card template that aims to enhance the structure, promote greater transparency, and establish a foundation for future machine-interpretable AI model cards.