I agree, but in this case the automatic systems to avoid human error were the primary systems, and the humans knew they were malfunctioning before takeoff, and

I agree, but in this case the automatic systems to avoid human error were the primary systems, and the humans knew they were malfunctioning before takeoff, and yet failed to double check for human error and flew the flight despite it being illegal to do so with the automated system malfunctioning. So yes you want to design your system to limit the impact of human error, but the human pilots also bear a very large responsibility too. Not as much as the airline for sure, but I could see why the initial verdict would lean toward negligence from the sheer number of lapses in judgement that were made.