Should We Really Care About Explainability In AI?

In the recent past, it is no secret that AI, especially cutting-edge deep learning algorithms, have been plagued by the explainability crisis. In May 2021, two researchers from computer scientist Su-In Lee's Lab of Explainable AI for Biological and Medical Sciences in Seattle published a paper in Nature titled, 'AI for radiographic COVID-19 detection selects shortcuts over signal', discussing the far-reaching effects of this issue. With the increased usage of AI in critical industries like healthcare and finance, explainability has become even more critical. In the heyday of the COVID-19 crisis, researchers started developing AI systems to detect COVID-19 accurately. But the technique that the systems used remained behind the curtain.