How does Value Similarity affect Human Reliance in AI-Assisted Ethical Decision Making?

Saumik Narayanan, Guanghui Yu, Chien-Ju Ho, Ming Yin

Abstract: This paper explores the impact of value similarity between humans and AI on human reliance in the context of AI-assisted ethical decision-making. Using kidney allocation as a case study, we conducted a randomized human-subject experiment where workers were presented with ethical dilemmas in various conditions, including no AI recommendations, recommendations from a similar AI, and recommendations from a dissimilar AI. We found that recommendations provided by a dissimilar AI had a higher overall effect on human decisions than recommendations from a similar AI. However, when humans and AI disagreed, participants were more likely to change their decisions when provided with recommendations from a similar AI. The effect was not due to humans’ perceptions of the AI being similar, but rather due to the AI displaying similar ethical values through its recommendations. We also conduct a preliminary analysis on the relationship between value similarity and trust, and potential shifts in ethical preferences at the population-level.