Human-in-the-Loop AI: Rethinking Automation Ethics in Decision-Sensitive Domains Case Study of the Education, IT and Non-for-Profit sectors

Nankyer Sarah Joseph and Mohammed Nasiru Yakubu
Additional contact information
Nankyer Sarah Joseph: Department of Information Systems, School of IT and Computing, American University of Nigeria, Yola Mohammed Nasiru Yakubu Arden University Middlemarch Business Park, Coventry. CV3 4FJ
Mohammed Nasiru Yakubu: Department of Information Systems, School of IT and Computing, American University of Nigeria, Yola Mohammed Nasiru Yakubu Arden University Middlemarch Business Park, Coventry. CV3 4FJ

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science, 2025, vol. 10, issue 10, 361-372

Abstract: This study develops and applies the Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) Ethical Assessment Framework (EHAF) to examine the ethical sufficiency of HITL artificial intelligence (AI) across education, information technology (IT), and non-profit sectors. The research objective was to evaluate how effectively HITL practices safeguard human values in decision-sensitive contexts and to identify sector-specific challenges that may compromise ethical adequacy. Adopting a qualitative thematic approach, we analyzed survey responses from professionals in the three sectors. Responses were coded against the four diagnostic dimensions of EHAF Impact Severity, Contextual Ambiguity, Human Agency, and Transparency & Auditing while also allowing for the identification of emergent themes. Retroductive reasoning was used to move beyond surface patterns to uncover generative mechanisms shaping HITL practices. Findings demonstrate sectoral variation in how HITL systems are operationalized and valued. In education, ethical sufficiency is closely tied to human oversight given the high stakes of student outcomes and the importance of cultural contextualization. In the non-profit sector, transparency and auditing dominate due to donor accountability pressures and reporting requirements. IT organizations, by contrast, privilege efficiency and scalability, but often provide weaker safeguards for human agency and oversight. Across all sectors, emergent themes such as training, trust, infrastructure readiness, and donor influence were found to condition HITL adequacy. Generative mechanisms identified include institutional role ambiguity, donor pressure, cultural misalignment, and capacity constraints. The study concludes by proposing an extension to EHAF that incorporates a fifth dimension, Capacity and Governance Context to better capture systemic and institutional influences. Conceptually, the paper refines the assessment of HITL ethics, while practically offering sector-specific recommendations to strengthen oversight, accountability, and trust in AI-enabled decision-making.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijrias/ ... 1-372-202510_pdf.pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijrias/ ... onforprofit-sectors/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bjf:journl:v:10:y:2025:i:10:p:361-372

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science is currently edited by Dr. Renu Malsaria

More articles in International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science from International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science (IJRIAS)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Dr. Renu Malsaria ().