Aaron Broukhim

Aaron Broukhim, Nadir Weibel, Eshin Jolly

Preference-based reinforcement learning (PbRL) is the dominant framework for aligning AI systems to human preferences, but its application to speech remains underexplored. We present a controlled cross-modal study of human and synthetic preference annotations, comparing text and audio evaluations of identical semantic content across 100 prompts. Audio preferences prove as reliable as text, with inter-rater agreement reaching good levels (ICC(2,k) $\approx$ .80) at $\sim$9 raters -- the first ICC-based reliability characterization in the preference annotation literature for either modality. However, modality reshapes how people judge: audio raters exhibit narrower decision thresholds, reduced length bias, and more user-oriented evaluation criteria, with near-chance cross-modality agreement. Synthetic ratings further align with human judgments and predict inter-rater agreement, supporting their use both for triaging ambiguous pairs and as full replacements for human annotations.

Robert Kaufman, Aaron Broukhim, David Kirsh et al.

Explanations for autonomous vehicle (AV) decisions may build trust, however, explanations can contain errors. In a simulated driving study (n = 232), we tested how AV explanation errors, driving context characteristics (perceived harm and driving difficulty), and personal traits (prior trust and expertise) affected a passenger's comfort in relying on an AV, preference for control, confidence in the AV's ability, and explanation satisfaction. Errors negatively affected all outcomes. Surprisingly, despite identical driving, explanation errors reduced ratings of the AV's driving ability. Severity and potential harm amplified the negative impact of errors. Contextual harm and driving difficulty directly impacted outcome ratings and influenced the relationship between errors and outcomes. Prior trust and expertise were positively associated with outcome ratings. Results emphasize the need for accurate, contextually adaptive, and personalized AV explanations to foster trust, reliance, satisfaction, and confidence. We conclude with design, research, and deployment recommendations for trustworthy AV explanation systems.