Risk and Resilience in the Age of Algorithmic Governance

Abstract

Abstract Targeted applications of algorithms and artificial intelligence are becoming more common in the governance and management of disaster risks and in developing resilience to crises of all kinds. As technical tools, algorithms have unlimited potential to improve the agility, velocity, variety, scale, and volume of data accessed, managed, and used. Less often discussed is the nature of normative, ethical, legal, and policy tools (re)shaped by algorithms. The nature of algorithms—as diverse, codified ways of working—can lead to unforeseen consequences when they are uncritically adopted into public governance and the core business of the prevention, mitigation, and management of hazardous risks, particularly within a democracy. There are unresolved tensions in the design ethics applied to private- versus public-sector uses. Ensuring the accountability of designers, corporate tool developers, and public end users requires appropriate oversight and regulatory instruments, a challenge both nationally and internationally. Generic, market-ready tools need to be carefully tuned to the public governance of risk and resilience, not to market opportunities but to preserve democratic values.