"In making decisions-be they decisions for ourselves our families our work or our
government-our thinking is informed by a host of factors that include the information we have
on hand the societal norms exerting pressure in one direction or another the laws that govern
us and increasingly the technology that can bring the power of algorithms AI and computing
to our aid. Viktor Mayer-Schèonberger and Urs Gasser term this overarching set of external
influences "guardrails": the structures much like the same-named barriers on highways that
establish the bounds and direction of desirable behavior. As technology has come to play an
outsized role in shaping our decision-making the authors argue that a clear understanding of
what role guardrails can and should play in our society is essential-and that this in turn can
help us determine what kind of transparency and accountability we require of the technology we
rely on. The authors first consider some of the challenges of decision-making in the digital
world in chapters that focus on information and misinformation human bias and the promise (or
not) of AI to correct it and decision-making in the face of uncertainty. In each case they
show how the quick embrace of technological solutions can lead to results we don't expect or
hope for (for instance the perpetuation of racial discrimination in the algorithmic assessment
of credit-worthiness). They then lay out what they see as the key principles for good
guardrails-empowering individual decisions accounting for the social good and flexibility in
the face of new circumstances. Ultimately the authors present a vision for the future of
decision-making that centers individual choice and human volition even in face of technological
progress"--
