Collaborative Research: DASS: Enabling Standards- and Disclosure-Based Regulations in and through Software Systems: Making Algorithmic Work Management Software Accountable to Law

软件系统已经成为公共和私营部门管理的一个组成部分，帮助和自动化关键的人类决策，如选择人员和分配资源。新出现的证据表明，用于算法管理的软件系统可能会严重损害劳动力的福祉，并且可能不适合促进对现有劳动法的问责。例如，由于任务分配和跟踪没有适当的休息时间，仓库工人处于严重的身心压力之下。按需乘车司机认为自动评估是不公平的，不信任系统不透明的支付计算，这导致工人因工资支付不足而提起诉讼。轮班工作者遭受不可预测的时间表，破坏了工作与生活的平衡，扰乱了他们提前计划的能力。与此同时，目前还没有一个既定的机制来监管这些软件系统。例如，关于如何在软件系统中应用公平概念，专家们没有达成共识。现有的工作法律没有跟上新兴工作形式的步伐，例如算法管理和数字劳动平台，这些平台给工人带来了新的风险，包括工作时间表的波动和雇主对工人的监督。为了应对这些挑战，我们的目标是开发技术方法，这些方法可以（1）使软件对现有法律负责，（2）通过测量某些软件使用和行为的负面影响来解决现有法律中的空白，以帮助利益相关者更好地减轻这些影响。换句话说，我们的目标是使软件对法律和政策负责，并利用它使软件用户（个人和公司）对受影响的人口和公众负责。该项目正在开发新的方法，使标准和基于安全的监管，并通过软件系统从正式的方法，人机交互，社会学，公共政策和法律在整个软件开发周期。这项工作将集中在算法工作调度上，这将影响占美国工人25%的轮班工人。它将采取参与性办法，让利益攸关方、公共政策和法律的专家、政府、商业软件公司以及公司中的软件用户和受软件使用影响的人参与软件设计和评价。该研究将在算法调度的背景下进行三个方面：（1）监管软件需求的参与式形式化，（2）可扩展和交互式的形式化方法和自动推理，用于软件保证和决策支持，以及（3）监管结果评估和监控。通过开发可问责的调度软件，该项目有可能产生更广泛的影响，为企业提供遵守现有工作调度规定和对其负责所需的工具，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识产权进行评估，被认为值得支持。优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。

Software systems have become an integral part of public and private sector management, assisting and automating critical human decisions such as selecting people and allocating resources. Emerging evidence suggests that software systems for algorithmic management can significantly undermine workforce well-being and may be poorly suited to fostering accountability to existing labor law. For example, warehouse workers are under serious physical and psychological stress due to task assignment and tracking without appropriate break times. On-demand ride drivers feel that automated evaluation is unfair and distrust the system’s opaque payment calculations which has led to worker lawsuits for wage underpayment. Shift workers suffer from unpredictable schedules that destabilize work-life balance and disrupt their ability to plan ahead. Meanwhile, there is not yet an established mechanism to regulate such software systems. For example, there is no expert consensus on how to apply concepts of fairness in software systems. Existing work laws have not kept pace with emerging forms of work, such as algorithmic management and digital labor platforms that introduce new risk to workers, including work-schedule volatility and employer surveillance of workers both on and off the job. To tackle these challenges, we aim to develop technical approaches that can (1) make software accountable to existing law, and (2) address the gaps in existing law by measuring the negative impacts of certain software use and behavior, so as to help stakeholders better mitigate those effects. In other words, we aim to make software accountable to law and policy, and leverage it to make software users (individuals and firms) accountable to the affected population and the public. This project is developing novel methods to enable standards and disclosure-based regulation in and through software systems drawing from formal methods, human-computer interaction, sociology, public policy, and law throughout the software development cycle. The work will focus on algorithmic work scheduling, which impacts shift workers who make up 25% of workers in the United States. It will take a participatory approach involving stakeholders, public policy and legal experts, governments, commercial software companies, as well as software users in firms and those affected by the software’s use, in the software design and evaluation. The research will take place in three thrusts in the context of algorithmic scheduling: (1) participatory formalization of regulatory software requirements, (2) scalable and interactive formal methods and automated reasoning for software guarantees and decision support, and (3) regulatory outcome evaluation and monitoring. By developing accountable scheduling software, the project has the potential for significant broader impacts by giving businesses the tools they need for compliance with and accountability to existing work scheduling regulations, as well as the capacity to provide more schedule stability and predictability in their business operations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.