Over-automation

Problems with excessive automation

Excessive dependence, limited control

“

Automation has its virtues, but automation is dangerous when it takes too much control from the user. “Over-automation” - too great a degree of automation - has become a technical term in the study of automated aircraft and factories. One problem is that overreliance on automated equipment can eliminate a person’s ability to function without it …. A second problem is that a system may not always do things exactly the way we would like, but we are forced to accept what happens because it is too difficult (or impossible) to change the operation. A third problem is that the person becomes a servant of the system, no longer able to control or influence what is happening. —p200, The design of everyday things

Process vs. outcome

In some situations, the experience of the process matters more than the outcome. Excessive automation in these situations can erase the essential experience. See: Values in the process

See also

• 2D framework of HCAI: The assumption that more automation leaves less room for human involvement may not always hold.