Title: Please take over: The role of explainability in human-to-AI delegation of decision rights
Abstract: In light of the European Union’s AI Act’s call for the explainability of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, this paper investigates the influence of explainability on human-AI collaboration, focusing on the specific contexts and demographics it impacts. Through the development of a comprehensive framework and an empirical study involving real estate professionals, we examine the nuanced relationship between global and local explainability in AI systems and their effect on the delegation of decision-making authority. Our findings underscore that global explainability, which provides an overarching understanding of AI behaviors, is pivotal in encouraging the transfer of decision rights to AI, thereby enhancing decision-making performance. This shift is attributed to the modification of individuals’ perceptions regarding their own and the AI’s decision-making capabilities and the desire to maintain control. Interestingly, the availability of global explanations does not diminish human engagement in the delegation process but instead redirects their efforts, alleviating concerns that explainability could lead to complacency. Conversely, while the anticipation of local explanations diminishes the fear of regret in erroneous decisions, it does not promote increased delegation to AI. Our study identifies no interaction effects between global and local explainability. The introduction of global explainability is shown to facilitate a seamless transition of decision-making authority from humans to AI, offering significant insights for the formulation of explainability standards in AI systems.
Bio: Kevin Bauer is an assistant professor for E-Business and E-Government at the University of Mannheim. He is interested in research at the intersection of economics and technology. His current research projects focus on explainable AI, algorithmic transparency, causal machine learning, and human information processing. His research has been published in internationally renownedjournals such as Information Systems Research, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, and Business & Information Systems Engineering. Kevin frequently acts as a reviewer for renowned IS journals including MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, and Management Science.