When the Algorithm Becomes the Brand Crisis: A Sociotechnical Theory of Distributed Responsibility and Accountable Transparency

The paper examines how responsibility is assigned when AI systems fail, proposing a sociotechnical theory that distinguishes between AI incidents, organisational crises, and scandals. It argues that the configuration of an incident shapes actor-specific attribution, which in turn influences perceptions of capability, integrity, fairness, and relationships, and that public moralisation can elevate an incident to scandal. The authors introduce ‘accountable transparency’—a response framework combining timely notice, intelligible accounts, role acknowledgement, remedy, evidence of correction, and recourse—as a way to manage blame, trust, and communication credibility.