Should we trust algorithms?

Summary

There is increasing use of algorithms in the healthcare and criminal justice systems, and corresponding increased concern with their ethical use. But perhaps a more basic issue is whether we should believe what we hear about them and what the algorithm tells us. 

Large numbers of algorithms of varying complexity are being developed within the healthcare and the criminal justice system, and include, for example, the UK HART (Harm Assessment Risk Tool) system for assessing recidivism risk, which is based on a machine-learning technique known as a random forest. But the reliability and fairness of such algorithms for policing are being strongly contested: apart from the debate about facial recognition on predictive policing algorithms says that ”their use puts our rights at risk.”