Automation promises speed, efficiency, and scale — but it also raises a difficult question: how much control should humans give up?

As AI systems increasingly make decisions, take actions, and optimise outcomes on our behalf, issues of agency, responsibility, and trust move to the centre of Human–Computer Interaction.

In this episode of HCI Explained, we examine the tension between human control and automation, and why this trade-off is rarely simple.

We discuss:

• Why automation is so appealing — and where it breaks down

• Automation bias and over-reliance on intelligent systems

• Loss of agency, skill fade, and invisible decision-making

• Concepts like human-in-the-loop and shared control

• How design choices shift responsibility when systems fail

💡 The real question is not whether to automate, but how control is shared between humans and machines.

👉 Tune in for a grounded discussion on designing automated systems that keep humans meaningfully involved.

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