Compare difficult decisions involving competing values, risks, and social impacts. Useful for AI governance, sustainability, public policy, healthcare, and organisational ethics. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.
An ethical trade-off assessment compares options where values pull in different directions, so the choice and its costs are explicit. The template compares options on five criteria: Fairness, Transparency, Social Benefit, Privacy Impact and Long-Term Risk. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.
CRITERIA WEIGHTINGS — The % weighting for each criterion is shown in the table header. Unless this was entered in the setup, the weighting is equal across criteria.
WEIGHTED WIN RATE — Each criterion's result, in the measure they share, averaged using the assigned weightings.
When it earns its place
Use it for decisions about data use, AI deployment, service changes that affect people unevenly, or policy options with winners and losers. It suits ethics committees, governance boards and project teams who need to show their reasoning.
The trap is pretending one option has no costs. Every serious option loses on something. The ranking per criterion shows where each option pays, so the group can decide whether that price is acceptable.
How to run it with a group
Describe each option concretely, including who is affected.
Agree the weights, and record who set them: the weights are the value judgement.
Participants compare the options two at a time on each criterion. Participants do not need an account to respond. Include people affected by the decision where you can.
Read the overall ranking, then the ranking per criterion. Write down what the chosen option gives up, and how you will limit that harm.
Identify and compare the most significant threats, vulnerabilities, and uncertainties. Useful for governance, strategy, cybersecurity, operational planning, and compliance. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.