In the end, it is all about humans.
Every big decision always involves a person to convince.
If computers were making the decisions, they would not be able to manage many cases, creating a gap that a startup, doing the same job, but, with a human will fill.
For example, loans: from what I see, mainstream loan applications are reviewed and decided by a computer, based on some numerical data (credit score and others) supposed to measure risk.
This has three significant very human consequences:
- people being refused something based on an algorithm, might never be able to get anywhere, creating a vicious spiral.
- people being approved something based on the same algorithm might be able to get way more than what they should
- gaming the algorithm becomes the focus
For the first type of people, a parallel industry will emerge (legal and not) to give hope of salvation while probably accelerating the fall. e.g. short term loans.
Note: while you can argue that algorithm will be different, in my experience, there is always a winner that takes it (almost) all. Copying your peers is a great way not to get fired (a very human consideration).