  As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent there is a growing
demand from regulators to accompany decisions made by such systems with
explanations. However, a persistent gap exists between the need to execute a
meaningful right to explanation vs. the ability of Machine Learning systems to
deliver on such a legal requirement. The regulatory appeal towards "a right to
explanation" of AI systems can be attributed to the significant role of
explanations, part of the notion called reason-giving, in law. Therefore, in
this work we examine reason-giving's purposes in law to analyze whether reasons
provided by end-user Explainability can adequately fulfill them.
  We find that reason-giving's legal purposes include: (a) making a better and
more just decision, (b) facilitating due-process, (c) authenticating human
agency, and (d) enhancing the decision makers' authority. Using this
methodology, we demonstrate end-user Explainabilty's inadequacy to fulfil
reason-giving's role in law, given reason-giving's functions rely on its impact
over a human decision maker. Thus, end-user Explainability fails, or is
unsuitable, to fulfil the first, second and third legal function. In contrast
we find that end-user Explainability excels in the fourth function, a quality
which raises serious risks considering recent end-user Explainability research
trends, Large Language Models' capabilities, and the ability to manipulate
end-users by both humans and machines. Hence, we suggest that in some cases the
right to explanation of AI systems could bring more harm than good to end
users. Accordingly, this study carries some important policy ramifications, as
it calls upon regulators and Machine Learning practitioners to reconsider the
widespread pursuit of end-user Explainability and a right to explanation of AI
systems.

Artificial Intelligence