 |
| Craig Constantinides of Go2Games |
An Amazon glitch between 7 and 8pm last Friday saw hundreds of products automatically plummet to a
rock bottom price of 1p, at which point they were quickly snapped up by consumers already
whipped into a bargain Christmas gift frenzy by media hype around Black Friday. The culprate in this case was Repricer Express - a software which
promises "continuous repricing 24/7" for sellers across multiple online
channels. As a seller, this is a way of ensuring that you're offering the
most competitive prices for your wares without having to check on the
competition yourself. Come Saturday morning, a number of people who had left the algorithms
in charge found that huge amounts of stock had been
given a way in a freak 1hr flash sale caused by a glitch in the software.
Whilst an algorithm stealing from Amazon will be seen by
many as a kind of automated Robin Hood, redistributing riches from the greedy corporation to the poor consumer, it turns out that the online megalith won't be the one that will actually suffer. Craig Constantinides of Go2Games claimed in CityAM that
£358,000 of stock had been affected. He issued pleas via Facebook for
customers to return, or pay full price, for goods purchased in the
giveaway. Which raises the point that although it was the machines
wot gave it away, it was consumers that pounced on the bargains, unable
to believe their luck. Should it be on their conscience whether they return
the goods? It will be unless Repricer Express or Amazon refund all damages.
To be fair to Repricer Express, they have
pointed out that there is already an automatic alert built into the software to warn
retailers of any dramatic price fluctuation. This suggests that
those who came a-cropper were those who chose to turn this function off
and trust the machines. On the other hand the hour of the glitch could just have
easily affected anyone who was doing something other than constantly
check their phones 24/7.
Talking of conscience, the second crime against humanity
perpetrated by the algorithms this week was courtesy of taxi app Uber. The company operates an automatic surge pricing which saw fares in the area of
Sidney caught up in the hostage siege shoot up to a minimum of $100, as
people tried to flee the area. A spokesperson for the company explained
that the system was designed to attract more drivers to an area of high
demand, but the company quickly moved to regain their human status by
offering free rides to all affected. This goes to show that behind every algorithm lies a
human agent with the power to decide how it is programmed and to take
responsibility for any resulting failure. The real
heartless automaton of the week was the badly programmed disgrace to the Islamic
faith responsible for it all, not to mention the idiots posing for selfies at the cordon.
Human agents need be held to
account for any machine-made decisions, but we all need to be aware of
how much to responsibility we are handing over to the automation in our
lives.
Monday 9 February 2015: If you're interested in these ideas, I can thoroughly recommend Nicholas Carr's The Glass Cage, published last month by Bodley Head.
