Reflecting on Public Service Regulation by Algorithm

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the potentials and challenges posed by the utilization of machine learning algorithms in the regulation of public services, that is services supplied by or on behalf of government to a particular jurisdiction’s community, including healthcare, education, or correctional services. It argues that the widespread enthusiasm for algorithmic regulation hides much deeper differences in worldviews about regulatory approaches, and that advancing the utilization of algorithmic regulation potentially transforms existing mixes of regulatory approaches in non-anticipated ways. It also argues that regulating through algorithmic regulation presents distinct administrative problems in terms of knowledge creation, coordination, and integration, as well as ambiguity over objectives. These challenges for the use of machine learning algorithms in public service algorithmic regulation require renewed attention to questions of the ‘regulation of regulators’.