Ironies of Automation

Notes

## Bibliographic Reference

Bainbridge, L. (1983) 'Ironies of Automation', *Automatica*, 19(6), pp. 775–779. doi: 10.1016/0005-1098(83)90046-8. `bainbridge1983ironies`

## BibTeX

```bibtex
@article{bainbridge1983ironies,
  author  = {Bainbridge, Lisanne},
  title   = {Ironies of Automation},
  journal = {Automatica},
  volume  = {19},
  number  = {6},
  pages   = {775--779},
  year    = {1983},
  doi     = {10.1016/0005-1098(83)90046-8}
}
```

## Routing

- **Primary KB**: artificial-intelligence-kb (human-automation interaction, supervisory control of AI/automated systems)
- **Cross-links**: human-centered-design-kb (supervisory-control-of-automation, automation-autonomy-and-ai, human-error-and-reliability), remote-operations-kb (operator monitoring, skill degradation)
- **Compiles to**: pending — candidate article on the ironies/paradoxes of automation (automation degrades the manual and cognitive skills it later relies on the operator to provide; monitoring tasks ill-suited to humans)

## Notes

Foundational, heavily-cited paper (IFAC). Core argument: automating a process does not eliminate the human operator but shifts them to monitoring and exception-handling — the two tasks humans are worst at — while eroding the manual and cognitive skills needed when automation fails. Anchors modern discussions of automation complacency, the "out-of-the-loop" problem, and human-in-the-loop AI design. Directly relevant to Lee & See (2004) `lee2004trust` (trust/reliance) and Parasuraman, Sheridan & Wickens (2000) `parasuraman2000model` (levels of automation).

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