Human Responsibility for Autonomous Agents

Automated or autonomous systems can sometimes fail harmlessly, but they can also destroy data, compromise privacy, and consume resources, such as bandwidth or server capacity. What's more troubling is that automated systems embedded in vital systems can cause financial losses, destruction of property, and loss of life. Controlling these dangers will increase trust while enabling broader use of these systems with higher degrees of safety. Obvious threats stem from design errors and software bugs, but we can't overlook mistaken assumptions by designers, unanticipated actions by humans, and interference from other computerized systems. This article is part of a special issue on Interacting with Autonomy.