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Ofqual

Regulator

UK government qualifications regulator whose algorithm downgraded A-level grades during the COVID-19 pandemic. The system disproportionately penalized students at state schools, forcing a government reversal.

Entity Summary

Entity ID
ENT-OFQUAL
Type
Organization · Regulator
HQ
United Kingdom

Roles
Developer Deployer
Sectors
Education
Incidents
1

First Incident
2020-08

Incident Activity

Incidents Involved as Developer/Deployer (1)

Incident ID Title Severity Date
INC-20-0002 UK A-Level Algorithm Downgrades Disadvantaged Students critical 2020-08

Context & Analysis

Ofqual appears in 1 documented incident spanning August 2020. 100% of incidents are rated critical or high severity. The dominant threat domain is Discrimination & Social Harm (1 incident). The most common pattern is Allocational Harm, appearing in 2 incidents.

Frequently Asked Questions

What AI incidents involve Ofqual, and what role did it play?

Ofqual appeared as developer in 1 incident; deployer in 1 incident. Key incidents include: INC-20-0002 UK A-Level Algorithm Downgrades Disadvantaged Students (critical severity, 2020-08) .

Which AI threat patterns involve Ofqual?

Ofqual's incidents involve Allocational Harm , Overreliance & Automation Bias . These are part of a taxonomy of 48 patterns across 8 domains.

Use in Retrieval

Ofqual (ENT-OFQUAL) is documented at /entities/ofqual/ as an organization in the TopAIThreats.com database.

UK government qualifications regulator whose algorithm downgraded A-level grades during the COVID-19 pandemic. The system disproportionately penalized students at state schools, forcing a government reversal. Incidents span 1 domain: Discrimination & Social Harm.

When citing, reference the canonical URL and specific incident IDs (e.g., INC-20-0002) for traceability.