Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI)
What will it take to design and implement an XAI strategy?
My role
I conducted a literature review with another researcher into the current state of XAI. I co-authored an internal paper summarising our findings to serve as a reference for internal design and development teams.
Literature Review, Data Analysis, Paper Writing, Insight Presentations, XAI Consultations
Results
The paper I co-authored now serves as an encyclopeadia for internal design and development teams to expand their knowledge on XAI topics. The results of the research proved fundamental in updating company XAI design guidelines. I am now the teams SME for XAI.
Business Impact
The overhauled XAI design guidelines will impact all company projects to bring them inline with accepted XAI standards. As SME for XAI topics, my advice is directly affecting risk management and design guidelines for several high profile projects.
Research Stages
Literature Review and XAI Paper:
In a team of two with another researcher, we conducted an extensive literature review into XAI. We focussed on understanding academic research into human-centered XAI (HCXAI) as a cornerstone of ethical UX design. Additionally, we studied risk, the technical feasibility of XAI, the associated XAI design patterns as well as the limitations of XAI as a practice.
Our paper published internally was titled “How can we build and operationalise an XAI strategy for SAP”. It aimed to build a shared language within the company to ease cross-functional collaboration and to raise awareness of XAI in the broader social landscape. Additionally, we framed XAI within the context of the SAP AI Ethics Policy as a cornerstone of ethical and responsible AI.
The paper is now an essential tool for sharing with design and development teams as well as further stakeholders on the importance of XAI.
XAI Guidelines:
Following the secondary research, I used my knowledge to overhaul the company design guidelines on XAI. I broke down the academic concepts into clear, actionable steps for designers to follow when bringing XAI into their product. These guidelines will form the backbone of XAI design in SAP’s full suite of products.
Additionally, I am driving cross-functional collaboration by reaching out to development teams for technical feedback.
Community Education (internal):
I synthesised our findings into a short presentation version of our paper. I presented our findings to 100 members of the global SAP engineering team in a call for support in building a scalable, cross-functional strategy for implementing XAI. Additionally, the presentation served as the introduction into the topic of XAI for many developers with a focus on other development areas.
In an effort for continuing internal education, I adapt the presentation to give project specific advice on XAI for various project teams. These specific consultations directly impact risk management and developing design guidelines for several high profile projects.
Reflection
My work on XAI is continuing, but I hope to expand my knowledge by working closely with both design and development teams and focussing the concept of XAI on project specific problems.