Fair and Responsible AI: A Focus on the Ability to Contest

TL;DR

This paper emphasizes the importance of designing AI systems that support contestation in high-stakes decisions, highlighting challenges and advocating for human-centered approaches to enhance fairness and transparency.

Contribution

It provides a framework for designing contestability features in AI, addressing current gaps and proposing human-centered solutions for ethical decision-making.

Findings

Design of contestation impacts perceived fairness and satisfaction

Lack of transparency poses challenges to contestability

Human-centered design improves trust and fairness in AI decisions

Abstract

As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in high-stakes decision-making increases, the ability to contest such decisions is being recognised in AI ethics guidelines as an important safeguard for individuals. Yet, there is little guidance on how AI systems can be designed to support contestation. In this paper we explain that the design of a contestation process is important due to its impact on perceptions of fairness and satisfaction. We also consider design challenges, including a lack of transparency as well as the numerous design options that decision-making entities will be faced with. We argue for a human-centred approach to designing for contestability to ensure that the needs of decision subjects, and the community, are met.