The WAx is a conceptual framework that addresses the needs for understanding, modeling, and analyzing cyber-socio-technical systems, seen as the archetypal maximum expression of complexity achievable by collective systems formed by humans and technological artifacts (Patriarca et al., 2021).

Currently, the scope of a socio-technical system is expanded by the cyber elements, necessitating their reconsideration and re-evaluation. The introduction of a kind of artifacts and agents (i.e., cyber-agents) objectively different in capability and rapidity of response, raises terrifically the number of possible non-linear interactions within modern systems. To this extent, CSTS sometimes include open AI issues (e.g., explainability, interpretability, and trust in technological artifacts) and exacerbate features related to adaptation, evolution, and, in general, unpredictability of complex adaptive systems (CAS). The understanding and analysis and, ultimately, the engineering of CSTS, fundamental in the immediate future in terms of safety and security, passes through the definition of an appropriate framework. The risks of social manipulation, new types of warfare, or changes in power structures potentially attributable to cyber-artifacts come to mind in this sense. Bearing in mind these observations, the WAx is structured to be impractical for reductionism and simplistic approaches that are patently unsuitable for CSTS risk and safety management.

In a broader sense, the framework remains a conceptual support for reflection, useful for encouraging discussion and insight into the different performances of systems. As such, it casts a light to remove biases on the dynamics involved in the different varieties of work, whether performed by humans or cybernetic agents.