IDK. I suspect this is less true than most acknowledge. Black box or not, google are creating these systems, analyzing, optimising and implementing them. It's

IDK. I suspect this is less true than most acknowledge. Black box or not, google are creating these systems, analyzing, optimising and implementing them. It's indeed hard or impossible to trace back individual examples and their whys. But the macro effects are visible and choices are made. It's just easier to "blame the computer," internally or externally. It's just like bank employees merge always blame "regulations." In fact, whatever they are blaming is a policy created to implement that bank's compliance framework which exists to satisfy the regulator's goals and the bank's goals." Most of the time, the underlying regulation is distantly removed from whatever piece of bureaucracy is annoying the customer or employee. But, if it can be blamed on the regulator, it will be. It's just easier, if at all possible, to blame an immovable and mysterious force rather than the more likely culprit: humans doing a bad job.