# Garbage In, Gospel Out
**Entity class:** Critique of algorithmic authority
**Maturity:** Developed
## Definition
**“Garbage in, gospel out”** describes the tendency to treat model output as authoritative even when its input data are biased, incomplete, mislabeled, or generated by earlier enforcement choices. The phrase names both data-quality failure and automation bias.
## Relationships
- **critiques:** [[wiki/Predictive Policing|Predictive Policing]], [[wiki/Link Prediction|Link Prediction]], and automated threat scoring.
- **documented context:** [[wiki/Predict and Surveil|Predict and Surveil]].
- **controls:** provenance, independent validation, auditability, and contestability.
## Sources / Provenance
- [[research/A Network-Epidemiological Analysis of Radicalization and Real-Time Counterterrorism Observability|Network-Epidemiological Analysis]]