The UK fiasco about pre-University gradings in a Covid-19 pandemic world that lacks examinations has led to much agonising about 'rogue' or 'mutant' algorithms (https://roguerocket.com/2020/08/18/uk-a-levels/). Such 'malign' devices have been blamed in the past for the crash of the pound and the selling of sub-prime mortgages but I think that this is another example of the old adage of the poor workman blaming his tools. An algorithm is defined as "a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer". The person designing the algorithm either defines the rules or is told to devise an algorithm will deliver a certain outcome. The algorithm has no life of its own and can't be blamed for what are human-generated outcomes. Mutation is a spontaneous change that can occur in a gene: an algorithm can't mutate.
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