Section 4/1: Human-Centered AI: Achieving Reliability, Safety, and Trustworthiness in Automation➡️Professor Ben Shneiderman introduces the H...

Published on by

Section 4/1: Human-Centered AI: Achieving Reliability, Safety, and Trustworthiness in Automation➡️Professor Ben Shneiderman introduces the H...
Section 4/1: Human-Centered AI: Achieving Reliability, Safety, and Trustworthiness in Automation

➡️Professor Ben Shneiderman introduces the Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HCAI) framework, advocating for a balanced approach to technology design that integrates high levels of human control and computer automation. The core idea is that such a balance can significantly enhance human performance, leading to Reliable, Safe, and Trustworthy (RST) systems.

➡️Key Points:

🔄 1. Framework Overview**:

🔹 Traditional automation models often suggest that increasing automation requires reducing human control. In contrast, Shneiderman's HCAI framework promotes a two-dimensional approach, supporting both high human control and high automation.

🔹The objective is to create RST systems that enhance human performance while fostering self-efficacy, creativity, and responsibility.

🔄 2. Critique of One-Dimensional Models**:

🔹Conventional models imply a trade-off between human control and automation, leading to designs where increased automation often diminishes human involvement.

🔹The HCAI framework challenges this notion, showing that it is possible to design systems where both high automation and human control coexist, thereby improving performance and safety.

🔄 3. Design for Reliability, Safety, and Trustworthiness**:

🔹Reliability** involves technical practices such as audit trails and continuous data quality checks.

🔹 Safety** is supported by management strategies that cultivate a safety culture and encourage reporting and learning from failures.

🔹 Trustworthiness** is established through independent oversight by regulatory bodies and standards organizations.

🔄 4. Applications of HCAI**:

🔹 Consequential Systems**: For systems like financial trading algorithms or medical applications, maintaining high human oversight is crucial to avoid errors and adapt to changing contexts.

🔹 Life-Critical Systems**: In high-stakes environments such as aviation or autonomous vehicles, balancing control and automation is essential to prevent disasters and ensure safety.

🔄 5. Avoiding Extremes**:

🔹 Both excessive automation and excessive human control can be harmful. Overly autonomous systems may lack necessary human oversight, while too much human control can lead to errors and inefficiencies.

🔹 Notable failures due to these extremes include the Boeing 737 MAX crashes and Tesla’s Autopilot incidents.

🔄 6. Future Directions**:

🔹 The work promotes iterative design improvements and the integration of feedback to create systems that not only automate effectively but also enhance human control.

🔹 Looking ahead, especially in the context of self-driving cars, the goal is to achieve a balance of high automation with appropriate human oversight to ensure safety and reliability.

Reference:
[1] Shneiderman, B. (2020). Human-centered artificial intelligence: Reliable, safe & trustworthy.

#HumanCenteredAI

Photo courtesy of Getty Images/Chayanan

Media