Visualizing Uncertainty-to-Action Composition for Human Oversight
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Abstract (arXiv)
Artificial intelligence systems often disclose uncertainty, yet they rarely make clear what response that uncertainty should trigger. Most uncertainty visualizations encode uncertainty in model outputs, leaving users to discern the most appropriate course of action. A second region of the design space--uncertainty in the decision process itself, including how multiple uncertainty conditions compose into an oversight response-- remains comparatively underexplored. We address this gap with two coupled contributions. First, we introduce an uncertainty-to-action binding framework that composes multiple uncertainty conditions into a single oversight response under a precedence policy with a contextual safety modifier. That response concerns whether and how an AI-supported decision may proceed, not the substantive domain decision itself. Second, we present ActionCue, a process-transparency visualization that renders that composition explicit. We demonstrate the approach through a three-way comparison with confidence-only and data-level uncertainty displays, using worked cases from healthcare, credit assessment, and disaster forecasting. Together, the framework specifies how uncertainty conditions are resolved into an oversight response, and the visualization makes that resolution inspectable rather than implicit.
Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 9 of its 23 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 17 Aug 2026.
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9 of 23 references.
References · 9
- 2017Counterfactual Explanations without Opening the Black Box: Automated Decisions and the GDPRcited by 1,089
- 2017Selective Classification for Deep Neural Networkscited by 852
- 2020Does the Whole Exceed its Parts? The Effect of AI Explanations on Complementary Team Performancecited by 399
- 2018Actionable Recourse in Linear Classificationcited by 328
- 2020Questioning the AI: Informing Design Practices for Explainable AI User Experiencescited by 253
- 2022Designing for Responsible Trust in AI Systems: A Communication Perspectivecited by 48
- 2019Decision-Making Under Uncertainty in Research Synthesis: Designing for the Garden of Forking Pathscited by 5
- 2025UbiQTree: Uncertainty Quantification in XAI with Tree Ensemblescited by 4
- 2024Voicing Uncertainty: How Speech, Text, and Visualizations Influence Decisions with Data Uncertaintycited by 1
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