The Role of Process and Outcome Accountability Claims for Shaping AI Developers’ Perceived Accountability

As accountability becomes increasingly important for developers of artificial intelligence (AI)-based systems, governance mechanisms such as AI principles or audits are often criticized for not sufficiently influencing AI developers. Therefore, we examine how visualized arguments in user interfaces (UIs) of integrated development environments (IDEs) can increase AI developers’ perceived accountability. Combining construal level theory and Toulmin’s model of argumentation, four UI design artifacts were developed, each containing a claim of process or outcome accountability with or without monitoring and evaluation tools that act as claim-supporting data. Results of an online experiment with 164 AI developers show that claiming process accountability increases AI developers’ perceived accountability more than claiming outcome accountability, both without supporting data. However, when supporting data are available, both claims increase AI developers’ perceived accountability comparably effectively. The study’s results highlight the theoretical and practical usefulness of visualized arguments in UIs of IDEs to promote AI developers’ accountability