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Strategic Communication of Trustworthiness in Autonomous Systems, Machine Learning, & AI

Rollerson, Megan LU (2023) SKOM12 20231
Department of Strategic Communication
Abstract
Autonomous systems, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are continuously integrated into our everyday lives. Accompanying this trend is a renewed distrust and concern that technological development may outpace creator control with deleterious results for society. The trustworthiness of the systems and the organisations that operate them is gaining greater attention in public discourse, mass media, and the academic community. In this evolving landscape, the field of strategic communication is confronted with an increasingly relevant question: How can organisations communicate the trustworthiness of autonomous systems effectively and strategically to foster trust in the technology and thus support a successful organisation-public... (More)
Autonomous systems, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are continuously integrated into our everyday lives. Accompanying this trend is a renewed distrust and concern that technological development may outpace creator control with deleterious results for society. The trustworthiness of the systems and the organisations that operate them is gaining greater attention in public discourse, mass media, and the academic community. In this evolving landscape, the field of strategic communication is confronted with an increasingly relevant question: How can organisations communicate the trustworthiness of autonomous systems effectively and strategically to foster trust in the technology and thus support a successful organisation-public relationship? Through the lenses of actional legitimacy and discourse of renewal theories, as well as trust repair discourse, this paper analyses Microsoft’s pre-crisis communication and crisis response for their new AI-powered Bing search engine and chatbot, launched in February 2023. A qualitative research approach that integrates process tracing and discourse tracing methodologies is used to evaluate the outcome of Microsoft’s crisis response and analyse their discourse for six identified trust dimensions: integrity, competence, predictability, benevolence, anthropomorphism, and human oversight. From this study, I propose a framework for communicating trust prior to and in response to crises that specifically addresses the strategic communication of autonomous systems, machine learning, and AI. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Rollerson, Megan LU
supervisor
organization
course
SKOM12 20231
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
strategic communication, trust, autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, machine learning
language
English
id
9118827
date added to LUP
2023-06-09 12:11:24
date last changed
2023-06-09 12:11:26
@misc{9118827,
  abstract     = {{Autonomous systems, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are continuously integrated into our everyday lives. Accompanying this trend is a renewed distrust and concern that technological development may outpace creator control with deleterious results for society. The trustworthiness of the systems and the organisations that operate them is gaining greater attention in public discourse, mass media, and the academic community. In this evolving landscape, the field of strategic communication is confronted with an increasingly relevant question: How can organisations communicate the trustworthiness of autonomous systems effectively and strategically to foster trust in the technology and thus support a successful organisation-public relationship? Through the lenses of actional legitimacy and discourse of renewal theories, as well as trust repair discourse, this paper analyses Microsoft’s pre-crisis communication and crisis response for their new AI-powered Bing search engine and chatbot, launched in February 2023. A qualitative research approach that integrates process tracing and discourse tracing methodologies is used to evaluate the outcome of Microsoft’s crisis response and analyse their discourse for six identified trust dimensions: integrity, competence, predictability, benevolence, anthropomorphism, and human oversight. From this study, I propose a framework for communicating trust prior to and in response to crises that specifically addresses the strategic communication of autonomous systems, machine learning, and AI.}},
  author       = {{Rollerson, Megan}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Strategic Communication of Trustworthiness in Autonomous Systems, Machine Learning, & AI}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}