Franken-algorithms: the deadly consequences of unpredictable code | Technology | The Guardian

Franken-algorithms: the deadly consequences of unpredictable code | Technology | The Guardian
"What is an algorithm?
Few subjects are more constantly or fervidly discussed right now than algorithms.
But what is an algorithm?
In fact, the usage has changed in interesting ways since the rise of the internet – and search engines in particular – in the mid-1990s.
...Recent years have seen a more portentous and ambiguous meaning emerge...
...Only since 2016 has a more nuanced consideration of our new algorithmic reality begun to take shape. 
...Corporations like Facebook and Google have sold and defended their algorithms on the promise of objectivity, an ability to weigh a set of conditions with mathematical detachment and absence of fuzzy emotion.
No wonder such algorithmic decision-making has spread to the granting of loans/ bail/benefits/college places/job interviews and almost anything requiring choice.
...We no longer accept the sales pitch for this type of algorithm so meekly..."
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