Cited by 221Ethics and Social Impacts of AIExplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI)Human-Automation Interaction and Safety

A Case for Humans-in-the-Loop: Decisions in the Presence of Erroneous Algorithmic Scores

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De-Arteaga, Maria, Fogliato, Riccardo, Chouldechova, Alexandra·2020·Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Abstract

The increased use of algorithmic predictions in sensitive domains has been accompanied by both enthusiasm and concern. To understand the opportunities and risks of these technologies, it is key to study how experts alter their decisions when using such tools. In this paper, we study the adoption of an algorithmic tool used to assist child maltreatment hotline screening decisions. We focus on the question: Are humans capable of identifying cases in which the machine is wrong, and of overriding those recommendations? We first show that humans do alter their behavior when the tool is deployed. Then, we show that humans are less likely to adhere to the machine's recommendation when the score displayed is an incorrect estimate of risk, even when overriding the recommendation requires supervisory approval. These results highlight the risks of full automation and the importance of designing decision pipelines that provide humans with autonomy.

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  • In some real-world applications of human-AI collaboration, a Machine Learning model is trained to perform the same classification task as the human expert.

    “In some real-world applications of HAIC1,21, an ML model is trained to perform the same classification task as the human expert.”

    From A benchmarking framework and dataset for learning to defer in human-AI decision-making (2025) · cites this paper as [1]

    The paper’s Predictive model section says the tool estimates the probability of a child’s future referral or out-of-home placement. The Discussion says call workers decide whether to screen a referral in for investigation. In the real-world application this paper studies, the model therefore predicts different outcomes from the decision the human experts make, rather than performing the same classification task. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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  • Prior research establishes irreducible uncertainty in public-sector outcomes, with both humans and algorithms likely to make mistakes.

    “Prior research has also established that an irreducible degree of uncertainty exists with respect to the outcomes in the public sector [21,34,57] with both humans and algorithms likely to make mistakes.”

    From A Framework of High-Stakes Algorithmic Decision-Making for the Public Sector Developed through a Case Study of Child-Welfare (2021) · cites this paper as [34]

    The Background and Related Work section (page not provided) says that prognostic tasks have irreducible uncertainty and that human and machine predictions are bound to make mistakes. Its statement is about predicting future outcomes, including in public-sector settings; it does not establish the claim for public-sector outcomes generally. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Diagnostic tasks entail circumstances where participants are given access to well-defined and comprehensive information about the current task, allowing them to make precise judgments.

    “Diagnostic tasks entail circumstances where participants are given access to well-defned and comprehensive information about the current task, allowing them to make precise judgments [29].”

    From Dealing with Uncertainty: Understanding the Impact of Prognostic Versus Diagnostic Tasks on Trust and Reliance in Human-AI Decision Making (2024) · cites this paper as [29]

    The Background and Related Work section describes diagnostic tasks as having a ground truth that is, in principle, knowable to humans. It does not say participants are given comprehensive, well-defined information or that this enables precise judgments. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Prognostic tasks involve scenarios in which participants are presented with restricted or unclear data and need to generate predictions regarding future outcomes.

    “Prognostic tasks, on the other hand, involve scenarios in which participants are presented with restricted or unclear data and need to generate predictions regarding future outcomes [29].”

    From Dealing with Uncertainty: Understanding the Impact of Prognostic Versus Diagnostic Tasks on Trust and Reliance in Human-AI Decision Making (2024) · cites this paper as [29]

    The Background and Related Work section defines prognostic tasks as predictions about what will happen in the future. The Introduction says information can be vague or inconclusive in some child-welfare calls, but the paper does not make restricted or unclear data a defining feature of prognostic tasks. Page numbers were not provided in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • With the presence of uncertainty in a task, individuals may lack sufficient capability to verify the correctness of AI advice and therefore rely more heavily on the AI systems.

    “With the presence of uncertainty in a task, individuals may lack sufcient capability to verify the correctness of AI advice and therefore rely more heavily on the AI systems [29], leading to reduced appropriate reliance on AI systems.”

    From Dealing with Uncertainty: Understanding the Impact of Prognostic Versus Diagnostic Tasks on Trust and Reliance in Human-AI Decision Making (2024) · cites this paper as [29]

    The Background and Related Work section says complex tasks and time pressure may increase overreliance on decision support, and that prognostic tasks involve irreducible uncertainty. It does not say that uncertainty prevents people from verifying AI advice or that this inability causes greater reliance. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 13

  1. [8]8. Alexandra Chouldechova, Diana Benavides-Prado, Oleksandr Fialko, and Rhema Vaithianathan. 2018. A case study of algorithm-assisted decision making in child maltreatment hotline screening decisions. In Conference on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency. 134-148.
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  6. [20]20. William M Grove, David H Zald, Boyd S Lebow, Beth E Snitz, and Chad Nelson. 2000. Clinical versus mechanical prediction: a meta-analysis. Psychological assessment 12, 1 (2000), 19.
  7. [21]21. Sophie Hilgard, Nir Rosenfeld, Mahzarin R Banaji, Jack Cao, and David C Parkes. 2019. Learning Representations by Humans, for Humans. arXiv preprint arXiv:1905.12686 (2019). · arXiv
  8. [28]28. John D Lee and Katrina A See. 2004. Trust in automation: Designing for appropriate reliance. Human factors 46, 1 (2004), 50-80.
  9. [30]30. David Madras, Toni Pitassi, and Richard Zemel. 2018. Predict responsibly: improving fairness and accuracy by learning to defer. In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems. 6147-6157.
  10. [31]31. Katharina Marten, Tobias Seyfarth, Florian Auer, Edzard Wiener, Andreas Grillhösl, Silvia Obenauer, Ernst J Rummeny, and Christoph Engelke. 2004. Computer-assisted detection of pulmonary nodules: performance evaluation of an expert knowledge-based detection system in consensus reading with experienced and inexperienced chest radiologists. European radiology 14, 10 (2004), 1930-1938.
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  13. [49]49. Michael Yeomans, Anuj Shah, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Jon Kleinberg. 2017. Making sense of recommendations. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making (2017).

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Authors
De-Arteaga, M., Fogliato, R., & Chouldechova, A.
Affiliations
Carnegie Mellon University (US)
Venue
Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Publisher
ACM
Published
2020-04-21
Pages
1-12
OpenAlex
W3007910004
Cited by
221
References
33
Citations by year
2026: 24 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 59 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2
FWCI
32.68
Type
conference paper
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University)
Funders
Hillman Foundation
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI)
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Human-Automation Interaction and Safety
Keywords
human-in-the-loop, algorithmic decision support, child maltreatment screening, child protection services, human-machine decision-making, risk prediction

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