  Turning principles into practice is one of the most pressing challenges of
artificial intelligence (AI) governance. In this article, we reflect on a novel
governance initiative by one of the world's largest AI conferences. In 2020,
the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) introduced a
requirement for submitting authors to include a statement on the broader
societal impacts of their research. Drawing insights from similar governance
initiatives, including institutional review boards (IRBs) and impact
requirements for funding applications, we investigate the risks, challenges and
potential benefits of such an initiative. Among the challenges, we list a lack
of recognised best practice and procedural transparency, researcher opportunity
costs, institutional and social pressures, cognitive biases, and the inherently
difficult nature of the task. The potential benefits, on the other hand,
include improved anticipation and identification of impacts, better
communication with policy and governance experts, and a general strengthening
of the norms around responsible research. To maximise the chance of success, we
recommend measures to increase transparency, improve guidance, create
incentives to engage earnestly with the process, and facilitate public
deliberation on the requirement's merits and future. Perhaps the most important
contribution from this analysis are the insights we can gain regarding
effective community-based governance and the role and responsibility of the AI
research community more broadly.
