It's kinda understandable, though. Whenever the services of Google, Facebook, etc. behave in an inscrutable, nonsensical, or offensive way, they blame it on th

It's kinda understandable, though. Whenever the services of Google, Facebook, etc. behave in an inscrutable, nonsensical, or offensive way, they blame it on their "algorithm" (for a recent example, see https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/06/youtube-alters-search-algorithm-over-fake-las-vegas-conspiracy-videos https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/06/youtube-alte...). That's really the only context where the term "algorithm" surfaces in mainstream discussion. ML has had a lot of successes, but one of its failures has been more unpredictability on the level of individuals and events that people actually experience.