calebc40•6d agoMost Upvoted

Last week my zoning board denied a permit based on an algorithm score

I applied for a simple garage addition in Austin and got denied by some automated system that flagged my lot as high risk for drainage issues. Turned out the algorithm was trained on data from neighborhoods 10 miles away with totally different soil types. I called the planning office and a real person admitted the model had a 40% error rate in my zip code. Has anyone else had a local government algorithm override common sense like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

claire8726d ago

Got denied by a bot with worse math skills than my drunk uncle.

amy_craig284d ago

Last week I had a bot try to correct my spelling when I was right.

john_fisher2d ago

amy_craig28 said a bot tried to correct her spelling when she was right, but honestly I think people are too quick to blame the tech here. I work with zoning data sometimes and those algorithms are only as good as what you feed them, the city probably just grabbed whatever soil maps they had without checking. That 40% error rate is bad but a real person still made the call to deny you based on that score, the algorithm is just a tool they leaned on too hard.