Read the following passage carefully:
The integration of automated algorithmic decision-making systems into public welfare administration is frequently promoted by technocratic reformers as an objective mechanism to eliminate administrative discretion, curb bureaucratic corruption, and optimize resource targeting. However, this techno-rationalist perspective underestimates the structural friction generated when rigid, data-driven eligibility criteria encounter the fluid and informal socio-economic realities of marginalized populations. Algorithmic models operate on standardized historical metrics that struggle to accommodate sudden income shocks or informal labor patterns, thereby institutionalizing structural exclusion under the veneer of procedural neutrality. Furthermore, by outsourcing discretionary triage to proprietary software algorithms, state institutions obfuscate public accountability and obscure procedural recourse for disenfranchised citizens facing automated denials. Rather than modernizing administrative capacity in an equitable manner, the uncritical deployment of predictive algorithms risks replacing human discretion with an unyielding digital gatekeeping architecture. Because administrative efficiency cannot be legitimately detached from social equity, governance frameworks must mandate robust human-in-the-loop oversight and comprehensive algorithmic transparency to safeguard constitutional welfare rights.
Which of the following statements best reflects the central thesis of the passage?
- Uncritical deployment of automated welfare triage risks entrenching systemic exclusion and eroding institutional accountability unless tempered by human oversight and transparency.Answer
- BAutomated decision-making technologies must be completely prohibited in public governance because algorithmic codes are fundamentally incapable of achieving administrative efficiency.
- CPublic administration systems suffer from inefficiency because private software developers prioritize corporate profit over the civic rights of welfare beneficiaries.
- DAlgorithmic decision-making relies on standardized data inputs that fail to adjust to sudden socio-economic shocks or informal labor market fluctuations.