Study finds workplace machine learning improves accuracy, but also increases human workload – Tech Xplore
This article has been reviewed according to ScienceX's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:
fact-checked
peer-reviewed publication
proofread
by European School of Management and Technology (ESMT)
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain
New research from ESMT Berlin shows that utilizing machine-learning in the workplace always improves the accuracy of human decision-making, however, often it can also cause humans to exert more cognitive efforts when making decisions.
These findings come from research by Tamer Boyaci and Francis de Vricourt, both professors of management science at ESMT Berlin, alongside Caner Canyakmaz, previously a post-doctoral fellow at ESMT and now an assistant professor of operations management at Ozyegin University. The researchers wanted to investigate how machine-based predictions may affect the decision process and outcomes of a human decision-maker. Their paper has been published in Management Science.
Interestingly, the use of machines increases human's workload most when the professional is cognitively constrained, for instance, experiencing time pressures or multitasking. However, situations where decision makers experience high workload is precisely when introducing AI to alleviate some of this load appears most tempting. The research suggests that using AI, in this instance, to make the process faster can backfire, and actually increase rather than decrease the human's cognitive effort.
The researchers also found that, although machine input always improves the overall accuracy of human decisions, it can also increase the likelihood of certain types of errors, such as false positives. For the study, a machine learning model was used to identify the differences in accuracy, propensity, and the levels of cognitive effort exerted by humans, comparing solely human-made decisions to machine-aided decisions.
"The rapid adoption of AI technologies by many organizations has recently raised concerns that AI may eventually replace humans in certain tasks," says Professor de Vricourt. "However, when used alongside human rationale, machines can significantly enhance the complementary strengths of humans," he says.
The researchers say their findings clearly showcase the value of collaborations between humans and machines to the professional. But humans should also be aware that, though machines can provide incredibly accurate information, often there still needs to be a cognitive effort from humans to assess their own information and compare the machine's prescription to their own conclusions before making a decision. The researchers say that the level of cognitive effort needed increases when humans are under pressure to deliver a decision.
"Machines can perform specific tasks with incredible accuracy, due to their incredible computing power, while in contrast, human decision-makers are flexible and adaptive but constrained by their limited cognitive capacitytheir skills complement each other," says Professor Boyaci. "However, humans must be wary of the circumstances of utilizing machines and understand when it is effective and when it is not."
Using the example of a doctor and patient, the researchers' findings suggest that the use of machines will improve overall diagnostic accuracy and decrease the number of misdiagnosed sick patients. However, if the disease incidence is low and time is constrained introducing a machine to help doctors make their diagnosis would lead to more misdiagnosed patients, and more human cognitive effort needed to diagnosedue to the additional cognitive effort needed to resolve due to the ambiguity implementing machines can cause.
The researchers state that their findings offer both hope and caution for those looking to implement machines in the work. On the positive side, the average accuracy improves, and when the machine input tends to confirm the rather expected all error rates decrease and the human is more "efficient" as she reduces her cognitive effort.
However, incorporating machine-based predictions in human decisions is not always beneficial, neither in terms of the reduction of errors nor the amount of cognitive effort. In fact, introducing a machine to improve a decision-making process can be counter-productive as it can increase certain error types and the time and cognitive effort it takes to reach a decision.
The findings underscore the critical impact machine-based predictions have on human judgment and decisions. These findings provide guidance on when and how machine input should be considered, and hence on the design of human-machine collaboration.
More information: Tamer Boyac et al, Human and Machine: The Impact of Machine Input on Decision Making Under Cognitive Limitations, Management Science (2023). DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2023.4744
Journal information: Management Science
Provided by European School of Management and Technology (ESMT)
- Predicting land suitability for wheat and barley crops using machine learning techniques - Nature - May 10th, 2025 [May 10th, 2025]
- AI and Machine Learning - Ribeiro Preto adopts Optibus to optimise public bus system - Smart Cities World - May 10th, 2025 [May 10th, 2025]
- Childrens Hospital Los Angeles Leads Development of First Machine Learning Tool to Predict Risk of Cisplatin-Induced Hearing Loss - Business Wire - May 10th, 2025 [May 10th, 2025]
- Google is using machine learning to help Android users avoid unwanted and dangerous notifications - BetaNews - May 10th, 2025 [May 10th, 2025]
- London School of Emerging Technology (LSET) Concludes International Workshop on Emerging AI & Machine Learning Innovation - Barchart.com - May 10th, 2025 [May 10th, 2025]
- Thermal performance, entropy generation, and machine learning insights of AlO-TiO hybrid nanofluids in turbulent flow - Nature - May 10th, 2025 [May 10th, 2025]
- Predicting the efficacy of bevacizumab on peritumoral edema based on imaging features and machine learning - Nature - May 10th, 2025 [May 10th, 2025]
- How AI and machine learning are supercharging video conferencing tools - European CEO - May 10th, 2025 [May 10th, 2025]
- The need for a risk-based approach to AI and machine learning in healthcare - Health Tech World - May 10th, 2025 [May 10th, 2025]
- Integrated bioinformatics, machine learning, and molecular docking reveal crosstalk genes and potential drugs between periodontitis and systemic lupus... - May 10th, 2025 [May 10th, 2025]
- Adversarial Machine Learning in Detecting Inauthentic Behavior on Social Platforms - AiThority - May 10th, 2025 [May 10th, 2025]
- Exploring crop health and its associations with fungal soil microbiome composition using machine learning applied to remote sensing data - Nature - May 10th, 2025 [May 10th, 2025]
- Trust-based model and machine learning improve forest fire detection system - International Fire & Safety Journal - May 10th, 2025 [May 10th, 2025]
- A machine learning engineer shares the rsums that landed her jobs at Meta and X and what she'd change if she applied again - Business Insider Africa - May 5th, 2025 [May 5th, 2025]
- Recentive Analytics v. Fox: The Federal Circuit Provides Analysis on the Patent Eligibility of Machine Learning Claims - Mintz - May 5th, 2025 [May 5th, 2025]
- A machine learning engineer shares the rsums that landed her jobs at Meta and X and what she'd change if she applied again - Business Insider - May 5th, 2025 [May 5th, 2025]
- Enhancing urban resilience through machine learning-supported flood risk assessment: integrating flood susceptibility with building function... - May 5th, 2025 [May 5th, 2025]
- MicroAlgo Inc. Develops Classifier Auto-Optimization Technology Based on Variational Quantum Algorithms, Accelerating the Advancement of Quantum... - May 5th, 2025 [May 5th, 2025]
- Enhanced metal ion adsorption using ZnO-MXene nanocomposites with machine learning-based performance prediction - Nature - May 5th, 2025 [May 5th, 2025]
- Integrating SHAP analysis with machine learning to predict postpartum hemorrhage in vaginal births - BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth - May 5th, 2025 [May 5th, 2025]
- Machine learning provide new insights into how the brain responds to heroin use - News-Medical - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- Machine Learning and AI in Basic HIV Research: From Big Data Analysis to Large Language Models - UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- Machine learning brings new insights to cells role in addiction, relapse - University of Cincinnati - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- UH/UC Researchers Use Machine Learning to Map Brain Changes from Heroin Addiction - University of Houston - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- Machine Learning Algorithm Predicts Shiba Inu Price In May You Should See This - The Crypto Update - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- Seerist partners with SOCOM to enhance AI and machine learning for special operations - Defence Industry Europe - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- How machine learning can spark many discoveries in science and medicine - The Indian Express - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- Machine learning frameworks to accurately estimate the adsorption of organic materials onto resin and biochar - Nature - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- Gene Therapy Research Roundup: Gene Circuits and Controlling Capsids With Machine Learning - themedicinemaker.com - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- Seerist and SOCOM Enter Five-Year CRADA to Advance AI and Machine Learning for Operations - PRWeb - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- Machine learning models for estimating the overall oil recovery of waterflooding operations in heterogenous reservoirs - Nature - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- Machine learning-based quantification and separation of emissions and meteorological effects on PM - Nature - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- Protein interactions, network pharmacology, and machine learning work together to predict genes linked to mitochondrial dysfunction in hypertrophic... - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- AQR Bets on Machine Learning as Asness Becomes AI Believer - Bloomberg.com - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- Darktrace enhances Cyber AI Analyst with advanced machine learning for improved threat investigations - Industrial Cyber - April 21st, 2025 [April 21st, 2025]
- Infrared spectroscopy with machine learning detects early wood coating deterioration - Phys.org - April 21st, 2025 [April 21st, 2025]
- A simulation-driven computational framework for adaptive energy-efficient optimization in machine learning-based intrusion detection systems - Nature - April 21st, 2025 [April 21st, 2025]
- Machine learning model to predict the fitness of AAV capsids for gene therapy - EurekAlert! - April 21st, 2025 [April 21st, 2025]
- An integrated approach of feature selection and machine learning for early detection of breast cancer - Nature - April 21st, 2025 [April 21st, 2025]
- Predicting cerebral infarction and transient ischemic attack in healthy individuals and those with dysmetabolism: a machine learning approach combined... - April 21st, 2025 [April 21st, 2025]
- Autolomous CEO Discusses AI and Machine Learning Applications in Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing with Pharmaceutical Technology -... - April 21st, 2025 [April 21st, 2025]
- Machine Learning Interpretation of Optical Spectroscopy Using Peak-Sensitive Logistic Regression - ACS Publications - April 21st, 2025 [April 21st, 2025]
- Estimated glucose disposal rate outperforms other insulin resistance surrogates in predicting incident cardiovascular diseases in... - April 21st, 2025 [April 21st, 2025]
- Machine learning-based differentiation of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder using multiscale fuzzy entropy and relative power from resting-state EEG... - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Increasing load factor in logistics and evaluating shipment performance with machine learning methods: A case from the automotive industry - Nature - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Machine learning-based prediction of the thermal conductivity of filling material incorporating steelmaking slag in a ground heat exchanger system -... - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Do LLMs Know Internally When They Follow Instructions? - Apple Machine Learning Research - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Leveraging machine learning in precision medicine to unveil organochlorine pesticides as predictive biomarkers for thyroid dysfunction - Nature - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Analysis and validation of hub genes for atherosclerosis and AIDS and immune infiltration characteristics based on bioinformatics and machine learning... - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- AI and Machine Learning - Bentley and Google partner to improve asset analytics - Smart Cities World - April 12th, 2025 [April 12th, 2025]
- Where to find the next Earth: Machine learning accelerates the search for habitable planets - Phys.org - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Concurrent spin squeezing and field tracking with machine learning - Nature - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- This AI Paper Introduces a Machine Learning Framework to Estimate the Inference Budget for Self-Consistency and GenRMs (Generative Reward Models) -... - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- UCI researchers study use of machine learning to improve stroke diagnosis, access to timely treatment - UCI Health - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Assessing dengue forecasting methods: a comparative study of statistical models and machine learning techniques in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Tropical... - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Machine learning integration of multimodal data identifies key features of circulating NT-proBNP in people without cardiovascular diseases - Nature - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- How AI, Data Science, And Machine Learning Are Shaping The Future - Forbes - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Development and validation of interpretable machine learning models to predict distant metastasis and prognosis of muscle-invasive bladder cancer... - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- From fax machines to machine learning: The fight for efficiency - HME News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Carbon market and emission reduction: evidence from evolutionary game and machine learning - Nature - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Infleqtion Unveils Contextual Machine Learning (CML) at GTC 2025, Powering AI Breakthroughs with NVIDIA CUDA-Q and Quantum-Inspired Algorithms - Yahoo... - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Karlie Kloss' coding nonprofit offering free AI and machine learning workshop this weekend - KSDK.com - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Machine learning reveals distinct neuroanatomical signatures of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in cognitively unimpaired individuals -... - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Machine learning analysis of cardiovascular risk factors and their associations with hearing loss - Nature.com - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Weekly Recap: Dual-Cure Inks, AI And Machine Learning Top This Weeks Stories - Ink World Magazine - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Network-based predictive models for artificial intelligence: an interpretable application of machine learning techniques in the assessment of... - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Machine learning aids in detection of 'brain tsunamis' - University of Cincinnati - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- AI & Machine Learning in Database Management: Studying Trends and Applications with Nithin Gadicharla - Tech Times - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- MicroRNA Biomarkers and Machine Learning for Hypertension Subtyping - Physician's Weekly - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Machine Learning Pioneer Ramin Hasani Joins Info-Tech's "Digital Disruption" Podcast to Explore the Future of AI and Liquid Neural Networks... - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Predicting HIV treatment nonadherence in adolescents with machine learning - News-Medical.Net - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- AI And Machine Learning In Ink And Coatings Formulation - Ink World Magazine - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Counting whales by eavesdropping on their chatter, with help from machine learning - Mongabay.com - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Associate Professor - Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning job with GALGOTIAS UNIVERSITY | 390348 - Times Higher Education - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Innovative Machine Learning Tool Reveals Secrets Of Marine Microbial Proteins - Evrim Aac - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Exploring the role of breastfeeding, antibiotics, and indoor environments in preschool children atopic dermatitis through machine learning and hygiene... - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Applying machine learning algorithms to explore the impact of combined noise and dust on hearing loss in occupationally exposed populations -... - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- 'We want them to be the creators': Karlie Kloss' coding nonprofit offering free AI and machine learning workshop this weekend - KSDK.com - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- New headset reads minds and uses AR, AI and machine learning to help people with locked-in-syndrome communicate with loved ones again - PC Gamer - March 22nd, 2025 [March 22nd, 2025]
- Enhancing cybersecurity through script development using machine and deep learning for advanced threat mitigation - Nature.com - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]