The Responsible Adoption of (Highly) Automated Decision-Making Systems

Abstract

The next-generation technological era will be marked by the prevalence of highly automated decision-making systems (ADMS), which promote technological autonomy at the expense of human agency. In this paper, we examine the role and importance of socio-ethical factors in the responsible adoption of ADMS by organizations. In doing so, we draw on the unique characteristics of ADMS and leverage the literature on social responsibility to conceptualize what a responsible adoption process and a responsible adoption decision involve. The resulting framework makes a much-needed connection between technology adoption and social responsibility and offers a progressive foundation to study ADMS adoption.

‘Design-for-responsible’ algorithmic decision-making systems: a question of ethical judgement and human meaningful control

“…Indeed, many researchers within the domain of AI systems development have acknowledged objections raised by critics such as Faraj et al [3] arguing that the current frenzied rate of technology adoption not only fails to adequately take into account social responsibility, but by their very nature (codified bias, opacity, etc.) raise their own set of ethical questions [8]. The general response has been an intensified drive towards addressing such 'system shortfalls' across the 'responsible adoption' of such systems across more ethical 'frameworks' and 'criteria' [8][9][10].…”

“…raise their own set of ethical questions [8]. The general response has been an intensified drive towards addressing such 'system shortfalls' across the 'responsible adoption' of such systems across more ethical 'frameworks' and 'criteria' [8][9][10]. We argue that such responses are questionable in that they fail to take into account: (1) the phenomenological complexities of human judgement; and (2) the relevance of relevance-that is, the relevance of the human ability to discern relevant cues and actions that are of ethical significance within a given situation-at-hand.…”