Data, Tech & Black Communities

Call for more transparency on how such tools are used in public services as 20 councils stop using computer algorithms. The Home Office recently stopped using an algorithm to help decide visa applications after allegations that it contained “entrenched racism”.

As the Black Lives Matter protests rage on in the US, many people in Scotland are wondering what they can do to show solidarity with the movement. Between 2000 and 2013, there were more race-related murders per capita in Scotland than in the rest of the UK – 1.8 murders per million, compared to 1.3, according to the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER).

Can transparency bring accountability to public-sector algorithmic decision-making (ADM) systems? High-profile retractions have taken place against a shift in public sentiment towards greater scepticism and mistrust of ‘black box’ technologies, evidenced in increasing awareness of the possible risks for citizens of the potentially invasive profiling.

After a legal challenge to the automatic algorithm, the UK will "redesign" its visa process. The Home Office has agreed to stop using a computer algorithm to help decide visa applications after allegations that it contained "entrenched racism".

A Home Office-funded project that used artificial intelligence to predict gun and knife crime was found to be wildly inaccurate. “Basing our arguments on inaccuracy is problematic because the tech deficiencies are solvable through time. Even if the algorithm was set to be 100 percent accurate, there would still be bias in this system.”