When artificial intelligence meets accountability: Who holds legitimacy as account givers and holders?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly employed to support decision-making in the public sector, yet it exacerbates the “problem of many hands and eyes” in public accountability. Using a vignette experiment with a 3 × 3 factorial design, we investigated how the configuration of account givers and holders in AI accountability affects perceived legitimacy among citizens. Our findings indicate that human agents are perceived as more legitimate account holders than AI systems, where bureaucratic operators outperform technological developers. Additionally, citizens are perceived as more legitimate account holders than political leaders and experts. We also explored the interactive effects between account givers and holders. This study responds to calls for empirical evidence on AI accountability, expands the conceptual framework of accountability in the AI era, and highlights the crucial roles of bureaucrats and citizens.