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Algorithms: Should We Worry?

Artificial intelligence is taking over everything from medical diagnosis to legal due process. Rob Young asks if the lack of transparency and risk of error are causes for concern.

Artificial intelligence is taking over everything from medical diagnosis to legal due process. Rob Young asks if the lack of transparency and risk of error are causes for concern.

Rob talks to a man whose unusual heart condition is monitored using a mobile phone app and asks cardiology expert Dr Boon Lim of Imperial College London whether such software could herald a revolution in coronary diagnosis. Meanwhile Francis White from AliveCor explains the "machine learning" behind the smartphone app his company developed,

And what about automation of the law? Legal experts Daniel Katz and Debra Loevy take opposing views on the growing use of machine learning in everything from the resolution of simple court cases to the allocation of police resources. Plus author Cathy O'Neil describes algorithms as "weapons of maths destruction".

(Picture: Cardiogram chart; Credit: Amelie1/Thinkstock)

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18 minutes

Last on

Fri 28 Oct 2016 07:32GMT

Broadcast

  • Fri 28 Oct 2016 07:32GMT

Podcast