Social Science Computer Review (SSCR)
Volume 40, Issue 2, 2022

Impact Factor: 4.578

Will Algorithms Blind People? The Effect of Explainable AI and 
Decision-Makers' Experience on AI-supported Decision-Making in Government

Abstract:

Computational artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are 
increasingly used to support decision making by governments. 
Yet algorithms often remain opaque to the decision makers 
and devoid of clear explanations for the decisions made. 
In this study, we used an experimental approach to compare 
decision making in three situations: humans making decisions 
(1) without any support of algorithms, (2) supported by 
business rules (BR), and (3) supported by machine learning (ML). 
Participants were asked to make the correct decisions given 
various scenarios, while BR and ML algorithms could provide 
correct or incorrect suggestions to the decision maker. This 
enabled us to evaluate whether the participants were able to 
understand the limitations of BR and ML. The experiment shows 
that algorithms help decision makers to make more correct 
decisions. The findings suggest that explainable AI combined 
with experience helps them detect incorrect suggestions made 
by algorithms. However, even experienced persons were not able 
to identify all mistakes. Ensuring the ability to understand 
and traceback decisions are not sufficient for avoiding making 
incorrect decisions. The findings imply that algorithms should 
be adopted with care and that selecting the appropriate 
algorithms for supporting decisions and training of decision 
makers are key factors in increasing accountability and transparency.


Open Access 

@article{Janssen:SSCR2022,
author={M. {Janssen} and M. {Hartog} and R. {Matheus} and A. Y. {Ding} and G. {Kuk}},
journal={Social Science Computer Review},
title={Will Algorithms Blind People? The Effect of Explainable AI and Decision-Makers' Experience on AI-supported Decision-Making in Government},
year={2022},
volume = {40},
number = {2},
doi={10.1177/0894439320980118},
ISSN={1552-8286},
month={December},
}

Marijn Janssen, Martijn Hartog, Ricardo Matheus, Aaron Yi Ding, George Kuk, "Will Algorithms Blind People? The Effect of Explainable AI and Decision-Makers' Experience on AI-supported Decision-Making in Government", in Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 40, No. 2, 2022. doi: 10.1177/0894439320980118