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”.

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.

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.”