Do individuals trust subjective computer-generated decisions?

Ashley Aberneithy, CEO of Analytic AI and director of Star Financial Systems, delivered a Centre for Risk Research (CRR) seminar to an audience over 100 on 3rd May 2017. He discussed how to get humans to trust computer-generated decisions and his experiences in forming a start-up in the field of decision analytics and machine learning.

Humans increasingly rely on machines to undertake complex analyses and to help make decisions. Some of the well-known advances in this sector range from the self-driving car to the smartphone personal assistant. At the heart of this progress is an artificial intelligence (AI) capable of independent learning from a dynamic environment and making appropriate complex decisions. The key question explored in the seminar was to what extent computer-driven decisions are trusted by humans and how we can improve that trust.

Ashley talked about his experiences in designing AI's within two domains:  top tier financial firms and the medical imaging space. He shared some of the challenges he faced whilst designing these systems, specifically focusing on how to effectively design subjective decision AI's that make it easy for humans to trust them.

Technical computational challenges aside, one of the key points highlighted for any budding entrepreneur was to “build a story” with an emphasis on nurturing successful business relationships. If a machine makes a single wrong decision it will significantly erode human trust. Therefore the consequences of failure are high. To overcome this barrier, Ashley suggested a design process which involved creating data points by interacting with as many potential end-users or clients as possible and providing iterative feedback.  He also explored, based on his own experiences, how best to talk to potential customers to help use their knowledge to build better systems and systems they are more likely to trust.

There was a lively discussion at the end of the seminar with Ashley fielding questions on career development, technical aspects of the products and specific trust issues related to businesses and machines.

Ashley Aberneithy is CEO of Analytic AI and Director of Star Financial Systems.