Accountability, a requisite for responsible AI, can be facilitated through transparency mechanisms such as audits and explainability. However, prior work suggests that the success of these mechanisms may be limited to Global North contexts; understanding the limitations of current interventions in varied socio-political conditions is crucial to help policymakers facilitate wider accountability. To do so, we examined the mediation of accountability in the existing interactions between vulnerable users and a 'high-risk' AI system in a Global South setting. We report on a qualitative study with 29 financially-stressed users of instant loan platforms in India. We found that users experienced intense feelings of indebtedness for the 'boon' of instant loans, and perceived huge obligations towards loan platforms. Users fulfilled obligations by accepting harsh terms and conditions, over-sharing sensitive data, and paying high fees to unknown and unverified lenders. Users demonstrated a dependence on loan platforms by persisting with such behaviors despite risks of harms such as abuse, recurring debts, discrimination, privacy harms, and self-harm to them. Instead of being enraged with loan platforms, users assumed responsibility for their negative experiences, thus releasing the high-powered loan platforms from accountability obligations. We argue that accountability is shaped by platform-user power relations, and urge caution to policymakers in adopting a purely technical approach to fostering algorithmic accountability. Instead, we call for situated interventions that enhance agency of users, enable meaningful transparency, reconfigure designer-user relations, and prompt a critical reflection in practitioners towards wider accountability. We conclude with implications for responsibly deploying AI in FinTech applications in India and beyond.

研究了印度金融形势下的高风险AI系统对弱势用户的交互中，用户的权利与动力被壓制，因此即使面临辱骂、反复借贷、歧视等危害，用户仍然采取顺从的行为应对金融压力，以至于对于AI系统的过失往往负有理当,强调技术手段之外的用户赋权、透明化和批判性反思对于AI负责和实现金融科技等应用具有重要意义。

平台-用户权力关系如何影响算法问责：以印度短期贷款平台和财务紧张用户为例研究