33 mins
EP5Who decides now? Ownership and accountability when people and AI split the work
An agent approves a refund, reroutes a shipment or closes a ticket. Whose call was that? Lucas Moreau, who teaches organizational design at Westbay University, talks with hosts Dr. Nora Castell and Dr. Felix Brandt about accountability once software takes action: how responsibility quietly slides toward whoever set up the tool, why teams should record who owns each outcome before changing a workflow, and what makes people comfortable relying on automated choices.
In this conversation
- Every agent needs a named human owner for its decisions.
- Decision rights should be written down before workflows change.
- Teams trust AI more when they can see why it acted.
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Find the hosts and guests
- Dr. Nora Castell: linkedin.com/in/nora-castell
- Dr. Felix Brandt: linkedin.com/in/felix-brandt
- Lucas Moreau: linkedin.com/in/lucas-moreau
Acme on social
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/acme
- Twitter/X: x.com/acme
- Instagram: instagram.com/acme
Episode timeline
- 00:00 – Introductions
- 05:10 – Who decides when an agent acts?
- 15:00 – Writing down decision rights
- 25:00 – Trust, visibility and explanations
Dr. Felix Brandt (05:12)
When an agent makes a call that goes wrong, who's accountable?
Lucas Moreau (05:18)
The person who owns the outcome, always. The mistake is letting ownership drift to whoever configured the tool.
Dr. Nora Castell (05:49)
So the org chart doesn't change, but the decision log does.
Your hosts
Dr. Nora Castell
Head of the Acme Work Lab
Dr. Castell leads research at the Acme Work Lab, where she studies how AI is changing the way people and teams work.
Dr. Felix Brandt
Professor Emeritus at Northwind University
Dr. Brandt is a workplace researcher and author whose books cover meetings, incentives, team design and how companies absorb new tools.
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