Blame games: Who is to blame when things go wrong, human or AI?

Ying Qin; Wanhui April Zhou; Bu Zhong

doi:10.1145/3706599.3719949

Blame games: Who is to blame when things go wrong, human or AI?

Ying Qin, Wanhui April Zhou, Bu Zhong

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceeding › Conference proceeding › peer-review

Abstract

Understanding responses to AI versus human errors is crucial, as they shape trust, acceptance, and interaction outcomes. This study investigates the emotional dynamics of human-AI interactions by examining how agent identity (human vs. AI) and error severity (low vs. high) influence negative emotional reactions. Using a 22 factorial design with 250 participants, the findings reveal that human agents consistently elicit stronger negative emotions than AI agents, regardless of error severity. Moreover, perceived experience moderates this relationship under specific conditions: individuals who view AI less experienced than humans exhibit stronger negative emotions toward human errors, while this effect diminishes when AI is perceived as having higher experience. However, perceived agency does not significantly influence emotional responses. These findings highlight the critical role of agent identity and perceived experience in shaping emotional reactions to errors, providing new insights into the psychological dynamics of human-AI interactions.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Editors	Naomi Yamashita, Vanessa Evers, Koji Yatani, Xianghua (Sharon) Ding
Place of Publication	New York, NY, USA
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Number of pages	6
ISBN (Print)	9798400713958
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3706599.3719949
Publication status	Published - 25 Apr 2025
Event	2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2025 - Yokohama, Japan Duration: 26 Apr 2025 → 1 May 2025 https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3706598 https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3706599

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Conference

Conference	2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2025
Country/Territory	Japan
City	Yokohama
Period	26/04/25 → 1/05/25
Internet address	https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3706598 https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3706599

User-Defined Keywords

Agent identity
Human-AI interaction
Mind perception
Negative emotions

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1145/3706599.3719949

Cite this

Qin, Y., Zhou, W. A., & Zhong, B. (2025). Blame games: Who is to blame when things go wrong, human or AI? In N. Yamashita, V. Evers, K. Yatani, & X. Ding (Eds.), Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Article 104 (Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems). Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). https://doi.org/10.1145/3706599.3719949

Qin, Ying ; Zhou, Wanhui April ; Zhong, Bu. / Blame games: Who is to blame when things go wrong, human or AI?. Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. editor / Naomi Yamashita ; Vanessa Evers ; Koji Yatani ; Xianghua (Sharon) Ding. New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2025. (Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems).

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title = "Blame games: Who is to blame when things go wrong, human or AI?",

abstract = "Understanding responses to AI versus human errors is crucial, as they shape trust, acceptance, and interaction outcomes. This study investigates the emotional dynamics of human-AI interactions by examining how agent identity (human vs. AI) and error severity (low vs. high) influence negative emotional reactions. Using a 22 factorial design with 250 participants, the findings reveal that human agents consistently elicit stronger negative emotions than AI agents, regardless of error severity. Moreover, perceived experience moderates this relationship under specific conditions: individuals who view AI less experienced than humans exhibit stronger negative emotions toward human errors, while this effect diminishes when AI is perceived as having higher experience. However, perceived agency does not significantly influence emotional responses. These findings highlight the critical role of agent identity and perceived experience in shaping emotional reactions to errors, providing new insights into the psychological dynamics of human-AI interactions.",

keywords = "Agent identity, Human-AI interaction, Mind perception, Negative emotions",

author = "Ying Qin and Zhou, {Wanhui April} and Bu Zhong",

note = "Publisher copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).; 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2025 ; Conference date: 26-04-2025 Through 01-05-2025",

year = "2025",

month = apr,

day = "25",

doi = "10.1145/3706599.3719949",

language = "English",

isbn = "9798400713958",

series = "Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)",

editor = "Naomi Yamashita and Vanessa Evers and Koji Yatani and Ding, {Xianghua (Sharon)}",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",

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url = "https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3706598, https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3706599",

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Qin, Y, Zhou, WA & Zhong, B 2025, Blame games: Who is to blame when things go wrong, human or AI? in N Yamashita, V Evers, K Yatani & X Ding (eds), Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 104, Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), New York, NY, USA, 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2025, Yokohama, Japan, 26/04/25. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706599.3719949

Blame games: Who is to blame when things go wrong, human or AI? / Qin, Ying; Zhou, Wanhui April; Zhong, Bu.
Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ed. / Naomi Yamashita; Vanessa Evers; Koji Yatani; Xianghua (Sharon) Ding. New York, NY, USA: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2025. 104 (Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems).

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceeding › Conference proceeding › peer-review