AI incidents involving diffusion of responsibility
Headlights has recorded diffusion of responsibility as the main behaviour in 5 of the 234 incidents in the library (2%), and as a contributing behaviour in 13 more. They span 2015 to 2026. Most come from Professional & legal services (4), Policing, justice & courts (3), Industry, transport & logistics (2).
No identified role owned the decision or the check, or each party relied on another to have done it.
A behaviour tag is Headlights' reading of the public record, not a finding by any court, regulator or company. Each entry gives the one sentence in the record that supports it.
- Professional & legal services 4
- Policing, justice & courts 3
- Industry, transport & logistics 2
- Automation bias 8
- Defensive denial 2
- Overconfidence 2
- Authority ambiguity 1
- United States 9
- Australia 5
- Austria 1
Cite this page: Harris, E. (2026). AI incidents involving diffusion of responsibility. Headlights. https://useheadlights.com/topics/behaviour/diffusion-of-responsibility/