Engage in disambiguation or gracefully degrade the AI system’s services when uncertain about a user’s goals.

In ambiguous situations, less can be more. For example, for an AI-powered assistant that can call people on demand, if the assistant is unsure whom to call, requesting clarification (e.g., “Do you mean Bill G. or Bill C.?”) can be less costly than calling the wrong person. In these situations, build the AI such that it can compute its own uncertainty and use this information to gracefully degrade or scope its services when in doubt. 

Use Guideline 10 design patterns to scope services when the AI system is uncertain:

• G10-A: Disambiguate before acting
• G10-B: Avoid cold starts by eliciting user preferences
• G10-C: Fall back to other strategies