Directly Responsible Individuals (DRI)

According to Simon Willison's Weblog, a critical question looms as artificial intelligence becomes more capable: who should bear responsibility when LLM-powered agents carry out projects? The concept of 'Directly Responsible Individual,' or DRI, originated at Apple to describe the person ultimately accountable for a project's success or failure. Willison contends that an AI should never hold this role—machines cannot be held accountable for their actions in the way humans can. This echoes a principle from IBM's past: a computer should never make a management decision precisely because it cannot be held accountable.

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