Beyond Procedural Compliance: Human Oversight as a Dimension of Well-being Efficacy in AI Governance

TL;DR

This paper conceptualizes human oversight as a well-being capacity within AI governance, emphasizing education and continuous development to enhance human agency and responsibility for ethical AI systems.

Contribution

It introduces human oversight as a distinct well-being capacity and provides a theoretical foundation for its pedagogical implementation and empirical validation.

Findings

Human oversight is a vital well-being capacity for AI governance.

Integration of oversight into education enhances human agency.

Framework supports ongoing cultivation of ethical AI responsibility.

Abstract

Major AI ethics guidelines and laws, including the EU AI Act, call for effective human oversight, but do not define it as a distinct and developable capacity. This paper introduces human oversight as a well-being capacity, situated within the emerging Well-being Efficacy framework. The concept integrates AI literacy, ethical discernment, and awareness of human needs, acknowledging that some needs may be conflicting or harmful. Because people inevitably project desires, fears, and interests into AI systems, oversight requires the competence to examine and, when necessary, restrain problematic demands. The authors argue that the sustainable and cost-effective development of this capacity depends on its integration into education at every level, from professional training to lifelong learning. The frame of human oversight as a well-being capacity provides a practical path from high-level regulatory goals to the continuous cultivation of human agency and responsibility essential for safe and ethical AI. The paper establishes a theoretical foundation for future research on the pedagogical implementation and empirical validation of well-being effectiveness in multiple contexts.