<p>Automation and Accountability in Decision Support System Interface Design</p>

TLDR

When human elements are introduced into decision support system design, new social and ethical issues arise, including automation and accountability concerns that can erode moral agency and responsibility, especially when interfaces are perceived as legitimate authority. The paper examines ethical and social impact issues in decision support systems, focusing on interface design considerations for military applications. The authors analyze these issues and identify key design considerations for interface developers. The study argues that interfaces capable of harm can create a moral buffer, enabling users to psychologically distance themselves from their actions.

Abstract

When the human element is introduced into decision support system design, entirely new layers of social and ethical issues emerge but are not always recognized as such. This paper discusses those ethical and social impact issues specific to decision support systems and highlights areas that interface designers should consider during design with an emphasis on military applications. Because of the inherent complexity of socio-technical systems, decision support systems are particularly vulnerable to certain potential ethical pitfalls that encompass automation and accountability issues. If computer systems diminish a user’s sense of moral agency and responsibility, an erosion of accountability could result. In addition, these problems are exacerbated when an interface is perceived as a legitimate authority. I argue that when developing human computer interfaces for decision support systems that have the ability to harm people, the possibility exists that a moral buffer, a form of psychological distancing, is created which allows people to ethically distance themselves from their actions.