Australian Robodebt scandal shows the risk of rule by algorithm

Tourists at Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra. Australia’s Robodebt scheme, whose algorithms wrongly calculated overpayments to 400,000 welfare recipients, is being investigated. — Reuters

MELBOURNE: When Australia’s welfare agency mailed Nathan Kearney to say he owed it thousands of dollars, the musician knew something was up. But try as he might, Kearney couldn’t reach anyone human in government to put right the horrible wrong.

That was back in 2016, the start of a five-year ordeal.