Opinion

Machines Make Mistakes - How Can We Trust Artificial Intelligence to Fly and Drive?

Vasant Dhar
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Manufacturers and airlines need to collect and share data from simulations of failure of any and all components associated with automated systems in aircraft, and design an interface that enables operators to take over with sufficient notice when required.
By Vasant Dhar
Current data from the tragic Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes may not be sufficient to establish what caused the accidents, but initial evidence is pointing to an automated anti-stall feature designed for high altitudes that isn’t sufficiently familiar—even to experienced pilots.

More generally, the incidents bring to the forefront some fundamental issues about the man-machine interface, and the increasingly automated computer systems in our lives.

The accidents raise critical two questions: when should we trust fully-automated computer systems with autonomous decision making, and how do we allow humans to gain control if things go wrong?

Read the full Newsweek article.

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Vasant Dhar is a Professor of Information Systems.