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

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.

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

So are humans and algorithms mutually exclusive then? Not necessarily! Consider that for many of us, the most familiar example of a machine-learning algorithm is probably the Facebook news feed.

But algorithms are nothing more than computer programs making decisions based on rules: either rules that we gave them, or rules they figured out themselves based on examples we gave them.

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.

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.