Explainability Case Studies

Explainability is one of the key ethical concepts in the design of AI systems. However, attempts to operationalize this concept thus far have tended to focus on approaches such as new software for model interpretability or guidelines with checklists. Rarely do existing tools and guidance incentivize the designers of AI systems to think critically and strategically about the role of explanations in their systems. We present a set of case studies of a hypothetical AI-enabled product, which serves as a pedagogical tool to empower product designers, developers, students, and educators to develop a holistic explainability strategy for their own products.Comment: 5 pages, 1 table, 3 ancillary PDFs containing workshop materials. CSCW 2020 Workshop on Ethics in Desig

"A cold, technical decision-maker": Can AI provide explainability, negotiability, and humanity?

Algorithmic systems are increasingly deployed to make decisions in many areas of people's lives. The shift from human to algorithmic decision-making has been accompanied by concern about potentially opaque decisions that are not aligned with social values, as well as proposed remedies such as explainability. We present results of a qualitative study of algorithmic decision-making, comprised of five workshops conducted with a total of 60 participants in Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We invited participants to reason about decision-making qualities such as explainability and accuracy in a variety of domains. Participants viewed AI as a decision-maker that follows rigid criteria and performs mechanical tasks well, but is largely incapable of subjective or morally complex judgments. We discuss participants' consideration of humanity in decision-making, and introduce the concept of 'negotiability,' the ability to go beyond formal criteria and work flexibly around the system.Comment: 23 pages, 1 appendix, 4 table