I’m not sure autonomy is the right word in reference to an algorithm, as the laws for the algorithm, so to speak, have been set down by another agent, the programmer. Which means the real question from a policy perspective may be what level of autonomy should you grant to the programmers.
The idea that there is a human to balance software has a weird opposite; I frequently see programs given “autonomous” access to data that the programmer isn’t permitted to touch. If you wouldn’t want programmers making life-and-death decisions, you don’t want them codifying those decision-making processes, either.
I suspect the fact that programmers are making life and death decisions might be more alarming to many people than the idea that programs are making life and death decisions. For those who aren’t alarmed by that possibility yet, a simple phrase may instill alarm: “These are the same kinds of people who programmed Outlook.”
… I frequently see programs given “autonomous” access to data that the programmer isn’t permitted to touch. If you wouldn’t want programmers making life-and-death decisions, you don’t want them codifying those decision-making processes, either.
In the context of the first quoted sentence, the second is false. An independent code review can make the program far more secure than any one of the reviewers would be.
If you mean something like, ‘we don’t have a good decision procedure for this case’, then that’s not a programming problem, it’s a domain knowledge problem.
I’m not sure autonomy is the right word in reference to an algorithm, as the laws for the algorithm, so to speak, have been set down by another agent, the programmer. Which means the real question from a policy perspective may be what level of autonomy should you grant to the programmers.
The idea that there is a human to balance software has a weird opposite; I frequently see programs given “autonomous” access to data that the programmer isn’t permitted to touch. If you wouldn’t want programmers making life-and-death decisions, you don’t want them codifying those decision-making processes, either.
I suspect the fact that programmers are making life and death decisions might be more alarming to many people than the idea that programs are making life and death decisions. For those who aren’t alarmed by that possibility yet, a simple phrase may instill alarm: “These are the same kinds of people who programmed Outlook.”
In the context of the first quoted sentence, the second is false. An independent code review can make the program far more secure than any one of the reviewers would be.
If you mean something like, ‘we don’t have a good decision procedure for this case’, then that’s not a programming problem, it’s a domain knowledge problem.