← Concept IndexDEFINITION WHY IT MATTERS COMMONLY CONFUSED WITH SOURCES
Human responsibility and oversight
Also called: accountability, the human decides
The principle that a person remains accountable for decisions and actions taken with AI's help, with meaningful ability to review, override, and stop the system.
'The AI did it' is not a defence to a customer, a regulator, or a court. Oversight is only real if the human has the time, information, and authority to actually intervene — not just a rubber-stamp button.
Having a human present. Token oversight — a person who can't realistically check or refuse — is not the accountability this principle requires.
- Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0), NIST AI 100-1U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology · 2023-01-26
- Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial IntelligenceUNESCO · 2021-11-23
First-pass citations, limited to primary sources; a reviewer will broaden and verify these before this entry leaves draft.