Leveraging teleological explanation to support general-purpose AI assessment

Abstract AI technologies are ubiquitous, manifesting in various forms and applications. Nowadays, many of them are presented as being general purpose , though this sometimes translates into having unclear purposes . Within this landscape, establishing normative criteria for the functioning of (some of) these artefacts has grown increasingly complex. In this work, we advocate the use of teleological explanation as a suitable ally in addressing the challenges arising in this scenario. We defend the idea that teleological explanation is particularly useful in the case of artefacts in general, and we discuss how, with some adaptation, it can be leveraged to support the assessment of AI artefacts according to their purpose(s). Our contribution is thus threefold: (1) exploiting some of the assumptions adopted in teleological explanation to support the clarification of (general-purpose) AI artefacts’ purpose(s); (2) assisting in the comparison and assessment of AIs via metrics inspired by the literature concerning teleological explanation; and (3) providing insights for defining a unified framework for designing AI benchmarks.