The Human Accountability Officer

In the city of Calder, LATTICE can model cascading failures, compare consequences, and recommend action faster than any human team. But when an automated decision can cost lives, the law requires something the system cannot provide: a named person who must make the final authorization.

Adrian Weller is that person: the Human Accountability Officer.

He can approve. Reject. Hold. Demand another plan. And if the outcome goes wrong, his name remains on the record.

Then a worker dies after an action Adrian authorized.

The accident exposes a problem no audit can make simple. LATTICE can act only within the goals, evidence, contracts, protected resources, and public priorities it has been given. Adrian has the power to say no. He does not have the power to define every choice placed before him.

Then Calder faces another crisis, and every available option carries real harm.

If one human being must answer for the final decision, how much authority must that person have to challenge the choices placed before him?

A high-concept science fiction novel about artificial intelligence, authority, responsibility, and who gets to define the choices before a human is asked to answer for them.