← Back to course
AI and You 9-12 / Week 11 / Thursday
4/6
Week 11 · Humans in Charge

Thursday

Better together, or worse?
// Who has the final say, and how much to trust
⏱ about 20 min

Thursday: Better Together, or Worse?

Teacher Lin stops by with a stack of Biology homework. "If Check marks these," she says, "maybe I can stop reading answers altogether."

Comet's eyes light up. "A teacher plus SH-1. That has to beat either one alone!"

Wren frowns at his clipboard. "What does the evidence say? On our test, Check missed 3 of 10 wrong answers. If nobody reads, those 3 slip through."

"So together could be worse," Comet says slowly, "if we team up the wrong way."

Nova draws two overlapping circles, then shifts them apart and back. "Would you like a hint?" she asks. "Ask how the team is organized, not just who is on it."

Teacher Lin smiles at you. "Reviewer, how should we team up?"

A person plus AI

Working together, a person and an AI can sometimes be more biased than either one alone.

Organized well, they can do better than either one alone.

How much people are empowered to challenge AI output still needs study.

Generative AI may call for extra human review, tracking and oversight. Organizations can restrict AI uses that cause harm.

Made-up team set-upWhat happens to Check's 3 missed errors (CK-20)
Teacher stops reading; Check alone marks homeworkAll 3 get through. Students keep 3 wrong ideas.
Teacher reads every answer; Check adds a second opinionThe teacher can catch them. Check may still help spot errors the teacher misses.
ORGANIZE THE TEAM
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Teacher Lin stops reading and lets Check mark everything. How many of the 10 wrong answers on CK-20 would slip through?
Which set-up is organized better?
The panel keeps SH-1 out of Spanish until a new test. What is that?

Explanations that fit

Transparency answers what happened. Explainability answers how a decision was made.

Interpretability answers why, and what it means to the user.

Explanations can be fitted to the user's role, knowledge and skill. A student, a teacher and the panel may each need a different one.

WHAT, HOW OR WHY?
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
"Check marked answer 12 as right." Which question does this answer?
"Check compared the answer with the answer key from the notes." Which question does this answer?
"Your answer used the right term but the wrong cell part, so review page 4." Which question does this answer?
StatementTrue or false?
A person and an AI together are always better than either alone.?
Organized well, a person and an AI can do better than either alone.?
Organizations can restrict AI uses that cause harm.?
Every user needs exactly the same explanation.?
Transparency answers the question of what happened.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEHow a team is organized decides whether it catches mistakes or doubles them.
Explaining why a decision was made, and what it means to you, is called ____.
Explaining how a decision was made is called ____.

Sharp thinking, reviewer. Tomorrow is Impact Friday: who is accountable when SH-1 gets it wrong?

← Wednesday