R0044/2026-03-29/Q001/SRC04/E01¶
FAA framework specifies system design approaches to suppress automation bias, including equal-salience information presentation, while assigning ultimate responsibility to the human operator.
URL: https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/step/safety_framework_aircraft_automation
Extract¶
The FAA framework states: "Automation bias, the tendency to use automation in a heuristic manner, may be suppressed if other, non-automated sources of information are presented with salience equal to that of the automated information."
The framework establishes that "the user is ultimately responsible for the task, and since automation is subject to failure, it is the user, not the automation, who must be in control of the system with the automation playing a subservient role."
The framework also requires that: "The system designer must delineate the responsibilities that are assigned to human beings as compared to the requirements that are assigned to systems and tools and must do so in a manner consistent with applicable aviation regulatory requirements and international standards."
Additional guidance includes: avoid anthropomorphizing AI ("Treat AI as a tool, not a human. Emphasize clear responsibility assignment and avoid human-centric language") and ensure automation does not adversely affect pilot workload.
Relevance to Hypotheses¶
| Hypothesis | Relationship | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| H1 | Supports | The equal-salience information presentation requirement is a system design constraint that addresses automation bias. |
| H2 | Contradicts | System-side design requirements clearly exist in aviation automation. |
| H3 | Supports | The requirements address information presentation (system design) but do not constrain the content or agreeableness of automated outputs. The primary emphasis remains on user responsibility. |
Context¶
The FAA's approach is the most mature among the four sectors because aviation has decades of experience with automation bias research. However, the framework was designed for cockpit automation (autopilot, flight management systems) and is being extended to AI. The equal-salience requirement is a system design constraint, but it addresses how information is displayed, not what the system says.