UK agrees to redesign 'racist' algorithm that decides visa applications

The UK visa algorithm will be overhauled by the end of October. The UK government said Tuesday that it'll stop grading visa applications with an algorithm critics have called racist. From Friday of this week, a temporary system will be put in place to grade applications while the algorithm undergoes a redesign before being reintroduced by the end of October. "We have been reviewing how the visa application streaming tool operates and will be redesigning our processes to make them even more streamlined and secure," said a Home Office spokeswoman in a statement. The decision to suspend the use of the "streaming tool," which has been used by the UK Home Office since 2015, comes in direct response to a legal threat by tech accountability organization Foxglove and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI).