Investigating the Role of Explainability and AI Literacy in User Compliance

AI is becoming increasingly common across different domains. However, as sophisticated AI-based systems are often black-boxed, rendering the decision-making logic opaque, users find it challenging to comply with their recommendations. Although researchers are investigating Explainable AI (XAI) to increase the transparency of the underlying machine learning models, it is unclear what types of explanations are effective and what other factors increase compliance. To better understand the interplay of these factors, we conducted an experiment with 562 participants who were presented with the recommendations of an AI and two different types of XAI. We find that users' compliance increases with the introduction of XAI but is also affected by AI literacy. We also find that the relationships between AI literacy XAI and users' compliance are mediated by the users' mental model of AI. Our study has several implications for successfully designing AI-based systems utilizing XAI.

Do you comply with AI? -- Personalized explanations of learning algorithms and their impact on employees' compliance behavior

Machine Learning algorithms are technological key enablers for artificial intelligence (AI). Due to the inherent complexity, these learning algorithms represent black boxes and are difficult to comprehend, therefore influencing compliance behavior. Hence, compliance with the recommendations of such artifacts, which can impact employees' task performance significantly, is still subject to research - and personalization of AI explanations seems to be a promising concept in this regard. In our work, we hypothesize that, based on varying backgrounds like training, domain knowledge and demographic characteristics, individuals have different understandings and hence mental models about the learning algorithm. Personalization of AI explanations, related to the individuals' mental models, may thus be an instrument to affect compliance and therefore employee task performance. Our preliminary results already indicate the importance of personalized explanations in industry settings and emphasize the importance of this research endeavor.