this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2024
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I really have a hard time deciding if that is the scandal the article makes it out to be (although there is some backpedaling going on). The crucial point is: 8% of the decisions turn out to be wrong or misjudged. The article seems to want us to think that the use of the algorithm is to blame. Yet, is it? Is there evidence that a human would have judged those cases differently? Is there evidence that the algorithm does a worse job than humans? If not, then the article devolves onto blatant fear mongering and the message turns from "algorithm is to blame for deaths" into "algorithm unable to predict the future in 100% of cases", which of course it can't...
My impression from the article is more that they're not doing any kind of garbage-in assessment: nobody is making sure they're getting answers about the right person (eg: some women date more than one guy) and some women don't feel safe giving accurate answers to the police, and there aren't good failsafes available for when it's wrong; you're forced to hire legal counsel and pursue a change via the courts.
That and, their action for low-risk is all wrong. The stakes are too high to not give someone help, regardless of the risk level.