Discover what black box models are, their applications in finance and investing, and examples of how they drive ...

What is Google's penguin algorithm, exactly? Roger Montti investigates.

Algorithms determine Google’s search results and suggestions. Some of Google’s algorithmic fails are more egregious than others, and sometimes Google steps in, but it often doesn’t.

Another example is a classifier that filters email using features (such as email header information, words in the email body, etc.) and produces one of two output categories: 'urgent,' 'social,' etc.

Algorithms are only human (well, designed by humans) but we need to trust they’ll do what they’re supposed to do. And that means we need a better way to test them.

For example, algorithms used in facial recognition technology have in the past shown higher identification rates for men than for women, and for individuals of non-white origin than for whites.

Algorithms are proprietary though, and monopolistic within their context (a customer can’t select the algorithm they want to use to assess their credit, for instance).

The algorithm will expand to all languages in which Google offers Search, but there is no set timeline, yet, said Google’s Danny Sullivan.

But even the smartest algorithms can sometimes behave in unexpected and unwanted ways—for example, picking up gender bias from the text or images they are fed.