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Automation bias

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The tendency of a person to over-rely on an automated system's output. EU AI Act Article 14 asks that people overseeing high-risk systems stay aware of it 1; the human gate logs approver, time to decide and override rate so that degrading oversight is visible.

Developed in
ch. 11, Certainty required by risk tier
ch. 04, Designing human oversight (Article 14)
ch. 23, What a good approval looks like
Chapters
ch. 04, The Stack · ch. 11, AI Defined · ch. 23, AI Agents
Source
1 numbered reference, listed below

Where it is used

9 chapters of the Body of Knowledge use the term. Each link opens the first section that does.

Automation bias: mentions per chapter11 mentions of the term across 9 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter04 The Stack: 2 mentions04 The Stack211 AI Defined: 1 mention11 AI Defined112 Governance Program: 1 mention12 Governance Program113 Risk Management: 1 mention13 Risk Management114 Development: 1 mention14 Development116 Fairness & XAI: 1 mention16 Fairness & XAI117 Incidents: 1 mention17 Incidents118 EU AI Act: 1 mention18 EU AI Act123 AI Agents: 2 mentions23 AI Agents2No mentions in the other 14 chaptersSource: the Body of Knowledgev0.5.0
Automation bias: mentions per chapter11 mentions of the term across 9 of the 23 chapters of the Body of Knowledge; the chapters the glossary cross-references are drawn solid.Cross-referenced chapterOther chapter0001020304 The Stack: 2 mentions204050607081011 AI Defined: 1 mention11112 Governance Program: 1 mention11213 Risk Management: 1 mention11314 Development: 1 mention1141516 Fairness & XAI: 1 mention11617 Incidents: 1 mention11718 EU AI Act: 1 mention1181920212223 AI Agents: 2 mentions223Source: the Body of Knowledge v0.5.0
Mentions per chapter How often each chapter names the term, with the chapters the glossary cross-references drawn solid. The longest bar is where to read the term in use; bars spread across many chapters mark a term that runs through the discipline.
Mentions as a table
Mentions of Automation bias per chapter
ChapterMentionsCross-referenced
00 Preface0No
01 Definition0No
02 Why Now0No
03 Values & Principles0No
04 The Stack2Yes
05 Patterns0No
06 The Role0No
07 Maturity Model0No
08 Regulatory Map0No
10 Reading List0No
11 AI Defined1Yes
12 Governance Program1No
13 Risk Management1No
14 Development1No
15 Deployment0No
16 Fairness & XAI1No
17 Incidents1No
18 EU AI Act1No
19 Privacy & AI0No
20 Existing Law0No
21 AI Laws Worldwide0No
22 Principles & Standards0No
23 AI Agents2Yes
Automation bias: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedAutomation biasRelated terms (3)AI Act (EU) · RelatedAI Act (EU)Abstention band · RelatedAbstention bandHuman oversight · RelatedHuman oversight
Automation bias: related terms and patternsThe term at the centre; related terms on solid edges, the terms it is contrasted with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer.RelatedRelated terms (3)AI Act (EU) · RelatedAI Act (EU)Abstention band · RelatedAbstention bandHuman oversight · RelatedHuman oversightAutomation bias
The term's neighbourhood Terms related to this one on solid edges, terms it is often confused with on dashed edges, and the patterns that use it most in the colour of their layer. Follow a dashed edge to check the distinction before you use either term.
Neighbourhood as a table
Neighbourhood of Automation bias
FamilyItemRelation
Related termsAI Act (EU)Related
Related termsAbstention bandRelated
Related termsHuman oversightRelated
  • Abstention band

    A range of scores in which a system does not act on its own but routes the case to a human reviewer.

  • Human oversight

    The measures that let natural persons understand, monitor and, when needed, override or stop a high-risk AI system, required by AI Act Article 14, including…

  • AI Act (EU)

    Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the EU's horizontal, risk-tiered law for AI, amended by the Digital Omnibus.

Sources

  1. [1] Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), consolidated text as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (Digital Omnibus on AI, in force 27 Jul 2026; definitions in Art. 3, incl. 3(1), 3(3) to 3(14), 3(14b), 3(20), 3(22), 3(23), 3(29) to 3(32), 3(49), 3(55) to 3(57), 3(60), 3(61), 3(63), 3(68); Arts. 4, 5, 6 (incl. 6(3) third subparagraph, profiling), 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 22 to 27 (incl. 26(11)), 40, 41, 43, 47, 48, 50, 53 (incl. 53(1)(c)), 55, 57, 60, 72, 73, 86; Annexes I, III, IV). Publications Office of the EU (EUR-Lex). 2026-07-27. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/2026-07-27/eng (verified: primary)

Definitions of legal terms paraphrase the cited text, which governs. Dated statements are as of .

Cite this term

García Aibar, J. (2026). Automation bias. In AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis & Body of Knowledge (v0.5.0), Glossary. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197. https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/automation-bias. CC BY 4.0

BibTeX

@misc{aige2026automationbias,
  author  = {Jorge García Aibar},
  title   = {{Automation bias}},
  note    = {Glossary, AI Governance Engineering: The Thesis \& Body of Knowledge, version 0.5.0},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.5281/zenodo.22956197},
  url     = {https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/automation-bias}
}