Worth a glance (it’s long), especially the Chief Inspector’s Statement on p.6 …
MAIB Annual Report 2024 - GOV.UK
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“Indicate a need to radically rethink the role of human watchkeepers in the digital age.
Humans do not make good monitors and if under-stimulated they will find other things to occupy
themselves. But, as the DMAIB4/MAIB application and usability of ECDIS safety study5 indicated, humans
can also be reluctant to utilise system functions that will alert them to impending problems.”
Yes, he seems to be saying watchkeepers aren’t watching and need more stimulation. Maybe Red Bull, stronger coffee or electric shock collars? Maybe he is inferring AI could do a better job.
The critique of watchstanding duties not being ideally suited for humans (or vice versa) seems well founded in behavioral and neurophysiological reality, as well as in recurring accident mechanisms.
However, MAIB imho always points out underlying systemic risk factors like understaffing, overburdening through frequent port calls, sleep deprivation, lack of consistency of company procedures etc.
He quotes
which is, even after several years of being published, a rewarding and pertinent read which does not primarily blame seafarers, but rather criticizes implementations that disregard practitioners needs or overburden them with untriaged warnings and alarms, amongst others.
At the bottom line, I think, he also would not be happy to be replaced by a royal AI that investigates AI induced maritime incidents…
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It is all a matter of money. Ship owner profits are doing very well, almost at record levels. Is there a correlation?
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I am no Luddite.
In a way, much like AIS is able to increase situational awareness today, agentic AI tomorrow might augment watchkeepers’ awareness by analyzing visible and thermal 360 degree images, chart plotter and radar display etc. in real time without ever being fatigued or overburdened by multitasking.
The crucial point will be, not to overwhelm the human in command with superfluous, irritating and distracting pseudo-alarms (which might be tempting for providers to implement due to liability considerations).
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