Let's Talk About The Black Box
Building trust in AI tools
Last week as part of Vancouver Tech Week , we hosted a great fireside chat with Toufic Boubez , CTO of Catio . One of the big topics he tackled was the importance of not creating black boxes when building AI tools. In other words, it shouldn’t be a mystery. People need to know what’s going on behind the scenes, especially when these new systems are giving suggestions about mission critical business decisions.
Why Avoid Black Boxes?
A black box is basically a system where you feed it data, and it spits out a result, but you have no idea how or why it came to that conclusion. (Think ChatGPT pre o1). Ultimately, you’re left guessing, best case scenario you spot any hallucinations or issues, worst-case scenario, you don't catch the error, and you're left facing the consequences.
For anyone working in data engineering, finance, healthcare, or any other high-stakes field, this is far from ideal. Being data driven, and an informed user is crucial, but the only thing worse then no information is bad information.
During the event, Toufic made a solid point: when AI operates as a black box, it breaks trust. If people don’t understand how an AI driven platform or agent is making decisions, it’s tough to feel confident in those decisions. You can’t troubleshoot, you can’t validate, and when things go wrong, you're left scratching your head and going back to doing things manually.
How Artemis Stays Transparent
At Artemis we’ve prioritized visibility. Our whole approach is centred around transparency—making sure that our users always know exactly what’s going on.
Here’s how we do it:
Full Visibility Every Step of the Way: With Artemis, you get to look under the hood of every process. Whether we’re optimizing a warehouse or automating your documentation, you can see every move our agents make. It’s all laid out for you in a way that’s easy to follow.
Execution Logs: For every task our AI handles, you’ll get a detailed log of exactly what happened—what data was processed, the steps taken, and the outcome. This means if you ever need to backtrack or understand why something happened, the information is right there.
Custom Workflows with Recipes: Our Recipes feature allows teams to take control. You can describe workflows in plain language, create templates, and automate processes, making sure the AI follows your rules and standards. No surprises—just workflows that align with what you need.
Review & Approval Before Execution: Before our agents take action, you have the option to review and approve the plan. This ensures that you’re always in the loop.
Trust and Transparency in AI
At the end of the day, AI tools should enhance what humans are doing—not replace them or make their jobs more confusing. That’s why transparency is at the core of everything we do at Artemis. We want you to feel confident in the process.
Our agents don’t just operate in the background. They invite you in, showing you every step and giving you full control over what happens next. For us, that’s the future of AI—one where people and technology work together, openly and collaboratively.