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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Beggs, Edwin J., Tucker, John V.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.05764
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author Beggs, Edwin J.
Tucker, John V.
author_facet Beggs, Edwin J.
Tucker, John V.
contents The rise of AI in human contexts places new demands on automated systems to be transparent and explainable. We examine some anthropomorphic ideas and principles relevant to such accountablity in order to develop a theoretical framework for thinking about digital systems in complex human contexts and the problem of explaining their behaviour. Structurally, systems are made of modular and hierachical components, which we abstract in a new system model using notions of modes and mode transitions. A mode is an independent component of the system with its own objectives, monitoring data, and algorithms. The behaviour of a mode, including its transitions to other modes, is determined by functions that interpret each mode's monitoring data in the light of its objectives and algorithms. We show how these belief functions can help explain system behaviour by visualising their evaluation as trajectories in higher-dimensional geometric spaces. These ideas are formalised mathematically by abstract and concrete simplicial complexes. We offer three techniques: a framework for design heuristics, a general system theory based on modes, and a geometric visualisation, and apply them in three types of human-centred systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2208_05764
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The dynamics of belief: continuously monitoring and visualising complex systems
Beggs, Edwin J.
Tucker, John V.
Artificial Intelligence
Systems and Control
I.6.5; D.2.2; I.2.0
The rise of AI in human contexts places new demands on automated systems to be transparent and explainable. We examine some anthropomorphic ideas and principles relevant to such accountablity in order to develop a theoretical framework for thinking about digital systems in complex human contexts and the problem of explaining their behaviour. Structurally, systems are made of modular and hierachical components, which we abstract in a new system model using notions of modes and mode transitions. A mode is an independent component of the system with its own objectives, monitoring data, and algorithms. The behaviour of a mode, including its transitions to other modes, is determined by functions that interpret each mode's monitoring data in the light of its objectives and algorithms. We show how these belief functions can help explain system behaviour by visualising their evaluation as trajectories in higher-dimensional geometric spaces. These ideas are formalised mathematically by abstract and concrete simplicial complexes. We offer three techniques: a framework for design heuristics, a general system theory based on modes, and a geometric visualisation, and apply them in three types of human-centred systems.
title The dynamics of belief: continuously monitoring and visualising complex systems
topic Artificial Intelligence
Systems and Control
I.6.5; D.2.2; I.2.0
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.05764