Which Gricean maxim is most closely related to the idea that AI explanations should only provide information relevant to the user’s question?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

When evaluating Gricean maxims in the context of AI explanations, we look for the principle that governs relevance to the user's query.
Option 1: 'Maxim of Relation (Relevance)'. This maxim asserts that contributions to the conversation should be relevant to the current topic or question. In an AI explanation, focusing only on information that helps answer the user’s specific question aligns with keeping discourse pertinent, avoiding detours.
Option 2: 'Maxim of Quantity'. This maxim is about providing the right amount of information—not too little, not too much. While relevance and sufficiency are related, this option targets the breadth of content rather than its applicability to the question at hand.
Option 3: 'Maxim of Quality'. This concerns truthfulness and not making claims lacking evidence. While honesty is essential in explanations, this maxim does not directly govern whether information is pertinent to the user’s question.
Option 4: 'Maxim of Manner'. This focuses on clarity and avoiding ambiguity, obscurity, or unnecessary complexity. It improves understandability but does not specifically address whether the content is on-topic for the user’s inquiry.

To determine the best fit for the idea of providing information only relevant to the user’s question, we compare how each maxim addresses relevance versus other communicative constraints. The Maxim of Relation (Relevance) most directly captures the notion of staying on topic and answering the user’s question with pertinent information, whereas the other maxims cover aspects like sufficiency, truth-conditional accuracy, and clarity, which are important but do not pinpoint the relevance criterion described.

In summary, among the listed options, the one that most closely maps to the principle that AI explanations should only provide information relevant to the user’s question is the Maxim of Relation (Relevance). The other maxims describe related but distinct guidelines about how much information to provide, truthfulness, and presentation, rather than the core relevance requirement.

COMP90089_2025_SM2 Quiz 5 - Explainable and Interpretable AI

Which Gricean maxim is most closely related to the idea that AI explanations should only provide information relevant to the user’s question?

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