• x00z@lemmy.world
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    1 hour ago

    Well, I might get disliked for this opinion, but in some cases it’s perfectly fine for a computer to make a management decision. However, this should also mean that the person in charge of said computer, or the one putting the decision by the computer into actual action, should be the one that gets held responsible. There’s also the thing where it should be questioned how responsible it is to even consider the management decisions of a computer in a specific field. What I’m saying is that there’s no black and white answer here.

  • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world
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    51 minutes ago

    I feel this way about things like companies, too. It must always be human beings that bear the personal responsibility for an organization’s crimes, not “the company” alone. When money can pay in lieu of personal responsibility, then there is no justice or accountability.

  • csm10495@sh.itjust.works
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    6 hours ago

    I’ve thought about this wrt to AI and work. Every time I sit in a post mortem it’s about human errors and process fixes.

    The day a post mortem ends with “well the AI did it so nothing we can do” is the day I look towards… with dread.

    • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      One of many reasons why I love BSG. As a retro-computing enthusiast, the idea that antique systems are naturally impervious to conventional digital attacks, just felt so validating.

      Sure, our navigation system is based on a Commodore-64, but good luck getting it to divulge mission-critical information over bluetooth. Or any information for that matter.

  • limer@lemmy.ml
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    9 hours ago

    I asked computer if I should read the article, it said no. Am I in an abusive relationship?

    That is ridiculous, clearly. I’ll use mainstream search engine, tailor made to my needs, to make sure it cannot happen

  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
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    11 hours ago

    A complete one-eighty nowadays…“As a highly paid “business” exec I have no ideas…computer, tell me what to do.”

  • onnekas@sopuli.xyz
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    11 hours ago

    I generally agree.

    Imagine however, that a machine objectively makes the better decisions than any person. Should we then still trust the humans decision just to have someone who is accountable?

    What is the worth of having someone who is accountable anyway? Isn’t accountability just an incentive for humans to not just fuck things up? It’s also nice for pointing fingers if things go bad - but is there actually any value in that?

    Additionally: there is always a person who either made the machine or deployed the machine. IMO the people who deploy a machine and decide that this machine will now be making decisions should be accountable for those actions.

    • petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      3 hours ago

      Imagine however, that a machine objectively makes the better decisions than any person.

      You can’t know if a decision is good or bad without a person to evaluate it. The situation you’re describing isn’t possible.

      the people who deploy a machine […] should be accountable for those actions.

      How is this meaningfully different from just having them make the decisions in the first place? Are they too stupid?

    • Maroon@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      Imagine however, that a machine

      That’s hypothetical. In the real world, in the human society, the humans who are part of corporations and receiving profits by making/selling these computers must also bear the responsibility.

      • calcopiritus@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        Tbf that leads to the problem of:

        Company/Individual makes program that is in no way meant for making management decision.

        Someone else comes and deploys that program to make management decisions.

        The ones that made that program couldn’t stop the ones that deployed it from deploying it.

        Even if the maker aimed to make a decision-making program, and marketed it as so. Whoever deployed it is ultimately the responsible for it. As long as the maker doesn’t fake tests or certifications of course, I’m sure that would violate many laws.

        • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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          9 hours ago

          The premise is that a computer must never make a management decision. Making a program capable of management decisons already failed. The deployment and use of that program to that end is already built upon that failure.

      • onnekas@sopuli.xyz
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        11 hours ago

        I believe those who deploy the machines should be responsible in the first place. The corporations who make/sell those machines should be accountable if they deceptively and intentionally program those machines to act maliciously or in somebody else’s interest.

    • sleepundertheleaves@infosec.pub
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      7 hours ago

      Unfortunately, what’s actually happening is humans are being kept in the loop of AI decisions solely to take the blame if the AI screws up.

      So the CEOs who bought the AI, and the company that sold the AI, and the AI tool itself, all get to dodge responsibility for the AI 's failures by blaming a human worker.

      For example, this discussion of an AI generated summer reading guide that hallucinated a bunch of non-existent books:

      The freelance writer who authored this giant summer reading guide with all its lists had been tasked with doing the work of literally dozens of writers, editors and fact-checkers. We don’t know whether his boss told him he had to use AI, but there’s no way one writer could do all that work without AI.

      In other words, that writer’s job wasn’t to write the article. His job was to be the “human in the loop” for an AI that wrote the articles, but on a schedule and with a workload that precluded his being able to do a good job. It’s more true to say that his job was to be the AI’s “accountability sink” (in the memorable phrasing of Dan Davies): he was being paid to take the blame for the AI’s mistakes.

      https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2025-09-11-vulgar-thatcherism-there-is-an-alternative-f1428b42a8fd

    • Wojwo@lemmy.ml
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      10 hours ago

      You know “accountability”, it’s when an executive fucks up and gets to retire early with a multimillion dollar golden parachute.

  • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Executives today:

    This means if we put AI somewhere in our decision making, we can no longer be held accountable.

    • InputZero@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Yup!

      “I’m sorry but your contact is terminated because our management software designated your position as redundant and unnecessary. It wasn’t our decision to let you go, but it was our decision to begin using that software and it was our decision to program it to try to fire as many employees as possible, but it’s not our decision and therefore we can’t be held responsible. Goodbye.”

      • calcopiritus@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        The same argument for cartels. “We didn’t all increase our prices to the exact same amount, we just paid a consulting company to tell us which price we should use. Of course our competitors used the exact same company, but that’s just a coincidence”.

  • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    The computer can’t be held accountable, but the programmer and operator can.

    I could go on a whole thing about mission rules and command decisions here, but I’m sick of typing for the day.