Artificial intelligence (AI) should be designed to incorporate and balance human oversight, ownership, and accountability for decisions throughout the AI lifecycle. IBM’s first principle of trust and transparency states that the purpose of AI is to augment human intelligence. Augmented human intelligence means that human intelligence is enhanced through the use of AI, not operated independently from or replacing human intelligence. All of this means that AI systems should not be treated as humans, but rather viewed as support mechanisms that can enhance human intelligence and potential.
AI augments human intelligence, but maintains human responsibility for decision-making even when supported by AI systems. Therefore, humans need to upskill, but not downskill, by interacting with AI systems. Supporting inclusive and equitable access to AI technology and comprehensive workforce training and potential upskilling further strengthens IBM’s Trusted AI pillar tenets, enabling participation in an AI-driven economy founded on fairness, transparency, explainability, robustness, and privacy.
To put the principles of augmenting human intelligence into practice, we recommend the following best practices:
Use AI to augment human intelligence, not operate independently or replace it. In human-AI interactions, inform individuals that they are interacting with an AI system, not a human. Design human-AI interactions to include and balance human oversight throughout the AI lifecycle. Address bias and promote human accountability and ownership over outcomes from AI systems. Develop policies and practices to promote inclusive and equitable access to AI technologies, enabling a broad range of individuals to participate in the AI-driven economy. Provide comprehensive employee training and reskilling programs to foster a diverse workforce that can adapt to the use of AI and share the benefits of AI-driven innovation. Work with HR to expand each employee’s scope of work.
For more information on standards and regulatory perspectives on human oversight, research, tuning of AI decisions, sample use cases, and key performance indicators, see “POVs and KPIs for Augmenting Human Intelligence” below.
Explore perspectives for expanding human intelligence Explore KPIs for expanding human intelligence
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