VentureBeat December 8, 2021
The UK government announced last week a new algorithmic transparency standard. The move follows a year when the UK’s Test and Trace program could ping your phone at any point and cancel your weekend plans — and when students took to the streets chanting “F一 the algorithm!” after exams were canceled and their university acceptances were instead decided by an algorithm.
The new standard is meant to push public agencies to create transparency about how, when, and where algorithmic decision-making is happening.
The use of algorithms to make decisions in public services is coming under increasing scrutiny around the world. Most recently in the UK, we’ve seen a legal challenge against the Department for Work and Pensions after it was...