Competent Persons and Algorithms
- James W.
- 3 days ago
- 1 min read
LinkedIn Post 2: Competent Persons and Algorithms
Can an algorithm be a competent person?
Under UK PSSR, the answer is no. A competent person is someone with:
Technical knowledge
Practical experience
Professional accountability
An algorithm has none of these.
Yet many organizations are allowing algorithms to make inspection decisions with minimal competent person oversight. The algorithm recommends deferring an inspection. The competent person becomes a rubber stamp.
This is backwards.
Competent persons should be decision-makers, not validators. The AI should inform the decision, not make it.
When a competent person approves an AI-recommended deferral:
✓ They review the recommendation against defined criteria
✓ They document their reasoning
✓ They take accountability for the decision
This is real competent person governance. It preserves human authority while leveraging AI insight.
The question is: Does your organization have governance in place to support this model?
Or is your AI system making decisions behind the scenes, with competent persons signing off without real oversight?
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