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The New Future of Work

Appropriate Reliance Research Initiative

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The Appropriate Reliance research initiative focuses on advancing research and creating practical solutions for fostering appropriate reliance on AI. 

Through appropriate reliance (opens in new tab), we aim to help people who use AI systems find a balance between over-trusting AI outputs and accepting them even when they are incorrect (aka overreliance on AI (opens in new tab)) and under-trusting—not accepting, or not using AI systems even when they perform well (aka underreliance on AI). 

Both over- and under-reliance on AI can have negative consequences such as harms resulting from poor performance of the human+AI team, or product abandonment. 

The research initiative brings together researchers and practitioners from across the company, with the goal of delivering:

  • Applied research on the nature of these phenomena and ways to mitigate them;
  • Guidance for AI practitioners;
  • Specific solutions such as UX/UI patterns. See guidelines, patterns, and examples for effective human-AI interaction, including appropriate reliance, in the HAX Toolkit Design Library.

Leads

Mihaela Vorvoreanu is a caucasian woman in her forties with chin-length reddish hair and glasses
Mihaela Vorvoreanu

Director, UX Research and Education, Aether

Researchers

There are dozens of researchers and practitioners across Microsoft working on this initiative, including:

  • Aisha Han 
  • Aleksandar Ilic 
  • Alice Lu 
  • Amy Heger 
  • Ana Beatriz F de Souza 
  • Annika Ushio 
  • August Niehaus 
  • Bobby Bernethy 
  • Brent Hecht 
  • Bujuanes Livermore 
  • Camille Basilio 
  • Cale Darling 
  • Chris Quirk 
  • Christian Poelitz
  • Christian Seifert 
  • Dan Goldstein 
  • Daniel Escapa 
  • Danny Lee 
  • David Rothschild 
  • Eleanor Huynh 
  • Eric Lewallen 
  • Esra Gokgoz 
  • Gaetan Issombo  
  • Hagar Moshe
  • Han-Shen Chen 
  • Helen Liang 
  • Hugh North 
  • Ian Drosos
  • Irena Berezovsky 
  • Irina Nikulina 
  • Jack Williams 
  • Jaclyn Knapp 
  • Jake Hofman 
  • Jenna Butler 
  • Jenn Wortman Vaughan 
  • Jenny Chen 
  • Jen Sillik 
  • Jonathan Foster 
  • JP Hernandez 
  • Kathleen Walker 
  • Kurtis Beavers 
  • Lauren Bryant 
  • Lea Bachmann 
  • Lev Tankelevitch 
  • Loredana Cerrato 
  • Mar Gines Marin 
  • Matt Murry 
  • Matthew Vogel 
  • Meg Grounds 
  • Michael Bentley
  • Naz Mirzaie
  • Neil Coles 
  • Neil Toronto 
  • Nick Wilson 
  • Ryan Nadel 
  • Richard Banks
  • Samir Passi 
  • Sarah Lee 
  • Shamsi Iqbal 
  • Shelley Bjornstad 
  • Shipi Dhanorkar 
  • Steph Ballard 
  • Stacy Molitor 
  • Sutton Wunderle 
  • Tanya Pinto 
  • Valentyna Filimonova 
  • Vera Liao 
  • Yvonne Chien