Dice Question Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com

Clarify responsibility for distributed moral action within sociotechnical systems

Ascertain who within sociotechnical systems is responsible for distributed moral action arising from the design, deployment, and operation of automated decision-making systems (ADMS).

Information Square Streamline Icon: https://streamlinehq.com

Background

Moral responsibility can be diffuse in sociotechnical systems involving multiple human and institutional actors. The authors highlight the unresolved question of how to allocate responsibility for outcomes influenced by ADMS, which is central to accountability and remediation frameworks in EBA.

References

To mention a few: was the right ADMS built, and was it build right? (Dobbe et al., 2019); what are the appropriate ethical assessment criteria for ADMS? (D'Agostino & Durante, 2018); what should be included when documenting the origin of a dataset or the design of an ADMS? (Raji et al., 2020); how to account for the power asymmetries between system owners, regulating bodies and decision-subjects when designing EBA procedures? (Crawford et al., 2019); and, who within STS is responsible for distributed moral action? (Floridi, 2016b). These questions are left for future research.

— Ethics-Based Auditing of Automated Decision-Making Systems: Intervention Points and Policy Implications (2111.04380 - Mokander et al., 2021) in Section 5 (Discussion: limitations and risks associated with EBA), paragraph beginning “It should also be noted that when analysing STS...”