UK students protesting over the government’s handling of A-level results, using an algorithm to work out marks, with many students receiving lower than expected grades after their exams were cancelled because of the coronavirus restrictions. — AP
Bad algorithms have been causing a lot of trouble lately. One, designed to supplant exam scores, blew the college prospects of untold numbers of students attending International Baccalaureate schools around the world. Then another did the same for even more students in lieu of the UK’s high-stakes “A-level” exams, prompting Prime Minister Boris Johnson to call it a “mutant” and ultimately use human-assigned grades instead.
Actually, I would argue that pretty much all algorithms are mutants. People just haven’t noticed yet.
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