AI Overlords Caught Judging Britons Based on Marital Drama and Pottery Preferences
In an unprecedented skynet-esque twist, the UK government’s crack team of AI detectives have been accused of taking a page out of the ’21st-Century Discrimination Handbook,’ as revealed by AI Antics. The robo-sleuths tasked with sniffing out benefits fraud have apparently developed a peculiar soft-spot for discriminating against citizens based on their age, disability, marital status, and even their preference for herbal tea over Yorkshire Gold.
This revolutionary bias was brought to light in an internal review which highlighted that the AI system, designed to be the ultimate Sherlock Holmes minus the charming accent, is instead acting like a judgmental 19th-century aristocrat. The platform has allegedly spent more time scrutinizing the social media habits of single parents and retired knitters than actual fraudsters.
“The program seemed to believe that married people were somehow less likely to be Bonnie and Clyde-ing the system,” confessed an anonymous whistleblower who may or may not be a part-time conspiracy theorist. “It’s almost as if the AI was developed by Agatha Christie herself, preferring drama over data.”
Out of the thousands of universal credit claims processed, the above-mentioned AI savants reportedly flagged more individuals who owned cats named Mr. Tiddles living alone than those who were, you know, actually committing fraud. The algorithm showed a remarkable 99% accuracy rate in predicting when Aunt Mildred would forget her grocery list, yet failed spectacularly at distinguishing legitimate claims from fraudulent ones.
“Something had to be done,” declared Sir Reginald Techbot, Minister of Over-Promotion for AI Systems. “Perhaps if we knew the AI would develop a preference for folks with more-than-one-sphynx cat and questionable marrying habits, we would have just stuck with our old routine of paper, quills, and the occasional dart.”
The program in question is under further evaluation with hopes that by 2050, it will finally understand ‘not everyone frauds, and fraud is not everyone’s cup of tea.’ In the interim, the government is considering hiring an army of empathetic AI therapists to help guide the errant AI down a more inclusive path. Meanwhile, British citizens have been advised to explain their life choices to their devices in exhaustive detail just to be safe.
