Comment No mystery here (Score 2) 46
There's no mystery here. The officer alleged to have verified the decision wasn't doing their job. You can frame this any way you like...the officer is overworked and couldn't keep up with the number of applications they're supposed to verify, or the officer is lazy, or the officer is incompetent, or perhaps the scientist's name identified their ancestry and the officer is a racist.
In my opinion (backed by some experience) the most likely explanation is the department relies on the fact that many applicants who are rejected won't have the means to appeal a decision, and the spokesperson is simply lying when they claim AI isn't used to recommend or make a decision.