Understanding Stakeholders' Perceptions and Needs Across the LLM Supply Chain

Résumé

Explainability and transparency of AI systems are undeniably important, leading to several research studies and tools addressing them. Existing works fall short of accounting for the diverse stakeholders of the AI supply chain who may differ in their needs and consideration of the facets of explainability and transparency. In this paper, we argue for the need to revisit the inquiries of these vital constructs in the context of LLMs. To this end, we report on a qualitative study with 71 different stakeholders, where we explore the prevalent perceptions and needs around these concepts. This study not only confirms the importance of exploring the who'' in XAI and transparency for LLMs, but also reflects on best practices to do so while surfacing the often forgotten stakeholders and their information needs. Our insights suggest that researchers and practitioners should simultaneously clarify the who’’ in considerations of explainability and transparency, the what'' in the information needs, and why’’ they are needed to ensure responsible design and development across the LLM supply chain.