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All you need is…. justification: algorithmic justifiability trumps transparency

Anantharaman Muralidharan & Julian Savulescu

Ethics and Information Technology2026https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-026-09892-3article
AJG 1ABDC B
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Most ethical guidelines on AI tout algorithmic transparency, the openness of an algorithm’s inner workings to human scrutiny, as an important desideratum in algorithmic deployment. Algorithmic transparency has been touted as important for valuable goals like procedural fairness, AI trustworthiness, contestability and planning around AI decision-making. This paper argues that these goals are better served by a distinct desideratum, algorithmic justifiability, the ability of an algorithm to provide understanding about why the algorithm’s decision is correct.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-026-09892-3

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@article{anantharaman2026,
  title        = {{All you need is…. justification: algorithmic justifiability trumps transparency}},
  author       = {Anantharaman Muralidharan & Julian Savulescu},
  journal      = {Ethics and Information Technology},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-026-09892-3},
}

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All you need is…. justification: algorithmic justifiability trumps transparency

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.