Automated decisions, or algorithmic decisions, are in law referred to mostly in relation to systems that decide about issues that have legal consequences. Replacing humans in the proces of decision-making is mostly reasoned by efficiency. In addition, some operations that can be performed by advanced algorithms are even impossible to be carried out by humans.

There is nothing really new about automated algorithmic procedures in private practice, public administration or even in the judiciary. Relative novel in the last decade is namely the scale and significance of the use of these systems, namely in private practice. This paper by Orna Rabinovich-Einy and Ethan Katsh (you may know both of them also from the Cyberspace conference) provides for an overview of the current state of play (this is not a compulsory reading):

In this module, we focus primarily on the issue of explainability of automated decision-making systems. That arises primarily with systems that are powered by machine-learning algorithms. The GDPR explicitly legislated the right of the data subject to know the logic of processing of personal data (read namely Recital 63 and Art. 14, 15 and 16.):

The compulsory reading for this module is this comment:

The following article is the supplementary reading for this module. It is a bit longer, but provides for an excellent analysis, so it is highly advisable that you consult it as well:

Here is the essay assignment for this module: