The science and technology committee of the House of Commons published the responses to its inquiry on “algorithms in decision-making” on April 26. They vary in length, detail and approach, but share one important feature — the belief that human intervention may be unavoidable, indeed welcome, when it comes to trusting algorithmic decisions.
Automation has already transformed agriculture and industry. Today, brown and blue collars are in a minority. About 80 per cent of US jobs are in services. Most of us deal with data and software in our working lives, not with bioware or hardware. The trouble is that computers eat data and software for breakfast. The digital revolution is now threatening white-collar jobs.
This is not because digital makes technology intelligent, but because it makes tasks stupid — in other words, no intelligence is required to perform them successfully. Once this happens, algorithms can step in and replace us.