Speaker and Program - September 16, 2026
Caryn Stanley
Accountability when AI is a Teammate
Caryn Stanley – UW-Platteville
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
8:30 am to 11:00 am - Breakfast
Mound City Bank Motor Branch, Platteville
Program description:
AI is already part of many teams, whether organizations have formally acknowledged it or not. In some workplaces, AI still functions as a directed tool, drafting, summarizing, and analyzing on command. Even then, a human must review the work, stand behind the result, and answer when something goes wrong. Many teams have not clearly named that person.
The accountability challenge grows as organizations adopt agentic AI systems. These systems may flag problems, draft responses, update records, and notify stakeholders before a human takes action. When an AI system acts first, who owns the outcome?
This session addresses the accountability question many organizations have yet to settle. As AI takes on more autonomous work, accountability must be deliberate, structural, and assigned in advance, not after a failure occurs. The traditional RACI principle still applies: only a human should be Accountable for an outcome. The challenge is defining that accountability when the human did not initiate the action.
Drawing on research in human-AI teaming, SHRM's guidance on human accountability in AI-enabled work, and governance frameworks emerging from Singapore, NIST, and the European Union, this workshop explores how AI and agentic AI affect the RACI framework, team accountability, disclosure, and trust. Participants will examine the expectations HR professionals should build into roles, policies, team norms, and decision-making processes now.
You will leave with a practical framework for keeping accountability human, even as AI takes on more of the work.
Speaker Profile:
Dr. Caryn Stanley is a certified Professional in Human Resources and has been an instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville for 16 years. She is an Associate Professor of Management and is the Assistant Director of the School of Business. She teaches courses in organizational change, human resource management, team dynamics, strategic thinking, and quality management both on campus and online. Stanley regularly speaks and publishes on topics including generational differences, organizational change, and stakeholder engagement and provides a variety of other consulting and training services. Her research focuses on the interactions among the variables of generational membership, planned organizational change, and employee loyalty.
