ISO/IEC TR 5469 (functional safety and AI systems)

What it is

ISO lists ISO/IEC TR 5469:2024, Artificial intelligence — Functional safety and AI systems as a technical report, edition 1, published in January 2024, from ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42. IEC’s catalog gives the same publication date as 8 January 2024 and a length of 73 pages.

The official abstract says the document describes the properties, related risk factors, available methods and processes relating to:

• use of AI inside a safety related function to realize the functionality
• use of non-AI safety related functions to ensure safety for an AI controlled equipment
• use of AI systems to design and develop safety related functions

Those three uses are the whole public scope statement. The public catalog does not name an aviation authority or confer a SIL. ISO sells the full text.

What a technical report is not

ISO classifies it as a Technical Report, not as an International Standard with certifiable requirements. We have not found an official ISO or IEC catalog page that says TR 5469 replaces IEC 61508 or confers a safety integrity level, so we make no such claim. See ISO/IEC TR 5469 and IEC 61508 for ML components.

How it sits next to IEC 61508

IEC 61508-1:2010 covers those aspects to be considered when electrical/electronic/programmable electronic (E/E/PE) systems are used to carry out safety functions and has the status of a basic safety publication according to IEC Guide 104. IEC 61508-3:2010 applies to any software forming part of a safety-related system or used to develop a safety-related system within the scope of IEC 61508-1 and IEC 61508-2.

TR 5469 is the ISO/IEC document whose public abstract is about AI in those safety-related settings. The two catalog pages do not, on their public faces, publish a mapping from machine-learning components to a SIL.

How it relates to other frameworks

• UL 4600. See the UL 4600 explainer for the autonomous-product safety-case standard. It is not TR 5469.
• Aviation. Airborne software assurance remains DO-178C / DO-330. We have not found an official FAA or EASA page that adopts TR 5469 as a means of compliance.
• AI risk management. Organizational AI risk guidance is ISO/IEC 23894. Functional safety is a different question.

Primary sources

Read the catalog entry at iso.org. ISO sells the full text.