IBM: "A computer must not be allowed to make an administrative or executive decision because a computer cannot be held liable."

[Graham2001]

With the rise of AI this quote which is attributed to a 1979 IBM Training Manual is being widely quoted, but there seems to be some variation on just where it appeared, some sites say it was given at a management presentation. I've seen one website (Linked) that seems to answer the question, but they also claim that the original document was lost in a flood.

Simon Willison's Weblog: a computer cannot be held liable."

 

[Mendel]

Well, you quoted it wrong.

"A computer can never be held accountable, therefore a computer must never make a management decision."

Spoiler: original tweet

Source: https://x.com/bumblebike/status/832394003492564993

I don't agree, because whoever delegated their authority to this tool is certainly accountable.

Anyway, there are more images at
mastodon.social/@mhoye/112459161513651881

People have also extracted the text visible through the paper.

THE COMPUTER MANDATE

AUTHORITY: WHATEVER AUTHORITY IS GRANTED IT BY THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT WITHIN WHICH IT OPERATES.

RESPONSIBILITY: TO PERFORM AS PRE-DIRECTED BY THE PROGRAMMER WHENEVER INSTRUCTED TO DO SO

ACCOUNTABILITY: NONE WHATSOEVER.

Article:

A MANDATE WITH TOO LITTLE AUTHORITY DOES NOT
PROVIDE THE TOOLS REQUIRED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE
OF THE LEVERAGE

A MANDATE WITH TOO LITTLE RESPONSIBILITY [HAS]
TOO LITTLE LEVERAGE FOR THE RISKS [INVOLVED?]

A MANDATE WITH TOO [LITTLE ACCOUNTABILITY IS A]
FORM OF SUICIDE

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20240324062615/https://cohost.org/a-hungry-mouth/post/4039145-chosting-my-reply-be

SOME TRAVESTIES:

1) COMPANY AS OGRE
2) COMPANY AS IDIOT
3) COMPANY AS CROOK
4) SALESMAN AS LAUNDRYMAN
5) CUSTOMER AS EMPLOYEE
6) COMPUTER AS MANAGER
7) COMPUTER AS GOD

Article:

Text including "The computer mandate" is visible through the paper. Considering the user took a photo of the hole-punched document on their knees and says they worked at IBM and in UX, it's reasonable to believe that this is an internal training document rather than an elaborate hoax.

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20240313220548/https://infosec.exchange/@mattjhodgkinson@scicomm.xyz/111556340650813552

Allegedly, IBM was contacted and couldn't find it, so this may just have been a handout for a workshop or some such.

 

[deirdre]

I don't agree, because whoever delegated their authority to this tool is certainly accountable.

you haven't seen the movie War Games, i take it?

i think the quote means that the computer itself will make narrow (ie not big-picture) decisions, and ruin everything. i dont think its really about whether the programmer gets in trouble after the fact.

the ibm site which uses it as quote discusses the topic in the modern age (jan 31 2025)

Article:

"A computer can never be held accountable, therefore a computer must never make a management decision."
– IBM Training Manual, 1979

Artificial intelligence (AI) adoption is on the rise.
...
Should AI be used for management decisions? Maybe. Will it be used to make some of these decisions? Almost certainly. The draw of AI — its ability to capture, correlate and analyze multiple data sets and deliver new insights — makes it a powerful tool for enterprises to streamline operations and reduce costs.

What's less clear is how the shift to management-level decision-making will impact accountability.

Source: https://www.ibm.com/think/insights/ai-decision-making-where-do-businesses-draw-the-line

 

[Scaramanga]

With the rise of AI this quote which is attributed to a 1979 IBM Training Manual is being widely quoted, but there seems to be some variation on just where it appeared, some sites say it was given at a management presentation. I've seen one website (Linked) that seems to answer the question, but they also claim that the original document was lost in a flood.

Simon Willison's Weblog: a computer cannot be held liable."

I'd be surprised that this appeared in 1979.....11 years after an IBM...sorry...HAL computer...'incapable of error'...bumped off one of the crew of the Discovery in 2001 : Space Odyssey. I'd have thought the entire lesson, even if hypothetical, is that even in the 60s they realised a computer was quite capable of murdering people and being fully accountable.

 

[Mendel]

IBM...sorry...HAL computer...'incapable of error'...bumped off one of the crew of the Discovery in 2001 : Space Odyssey.

all but one of the crew

and it's fiction, in scifi computers had been doing that variously, but not in reality

 

[Gary C]

I'd be surprised that this appeared in 1979.....11 years after an IBM...sorry...HAL computer...'incapable of error'...bumped off one of the crew of the Discovery in 2001 : Space Odyssey. I'd have thought the entire lesson, even if hypothetical, is that even in the 60s they realised a computer was quite capable of murdering people and being fully accountable.

HAL never bothered me as much as 1970's Colossus: The Forbin Project